Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is a tropical vegetable and a source of vitamins such as K, C, and B. It is commonly grown and sold for daily consumption, but picking the right fruit size is more profitable. Therefore, a method for estimating the fruit weight is highly recommended. This paper aimed to determine the dimensions of cucumber fruit based on its usual harvesting size and to establish a model to show the relationship between fruit weight, fruit length, and fruit diameter. Cucumber was planted in the experimental field belonging to the Faculty of Agricultural Biosystems Engineering, Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from January to June 2022. In the study, 48 market-size fruits were randomly selected from the plots to measure their weight, length, and diameter. The result shows that fruit length and fruit diameter had a positive relationship (P < 0.001; R = 0.70). Fruit weight was 3.38 fruit length × fruit diameter (P <0.001; R = 0.95). Nevertheless, L/D ratio negatively affected fruit weight, when it exceeded 3:1. Fruit weight was greater than 100 g when fruit diameter was over 4 cm and fruit length was over 10 cm. Therefore, when picking cucumber fruits, one must consider fruit length and diameter to be profitable. Further studies will focus on measuring cucumber fruit already available on the market to understand more about actual consumer preferences.

Introduction: Growth, yield and quality of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench) are related to fertilizer application, being nitrogen (N) the most outstanding, due to its direct relationship with photosynthesis and vegetative growth of the plant. Objective: The objective was to evaluate the agronomic and productivity characteristics of okra as a function of N dose. Materials and methods: The study was conducted at the experimental area of Campus Gurupi, the Universidad Federal de Tocantins (UFT), Brazil, in two planting periods (autumn/winter and spring/summer). The experimental design used was randomized block design (RBD) with six treatments (50, 100, 150, 150, 200 and 250 kg N ha^-1) and four replications. Urea was used as a source of N. The characteristics evaluated were: productivity, average fruit mass, height and plant chlorophyll index. Results: Productivity and plant height were superior in the fall/winter crop. Mean fruit mass and chlorophyll index were not influenced by planting time. For productivity, a linear response was obtained with increasing dose up to the limit of the N dose used (250 kg ha^-1), with a mean value higher than 14 t of fruit. Mean mass and plant height responded linearly to increasing N dose. Nitrogen affected the chlorophyll index, with maximum values of 45.96 and 47.19, observed in the two evaluation periods. Conclusion: Planting time and N content in the soil interacted with plant height, being favorable in the period without precipitation. N influenced all the characteristics, demonstrating the importance of nitrogen fertilization in the development of okra plants.

Objective: To study the changes of growth, physiological and absorption characteristics of Pinus bungeana under ozone (O₃) stress, to elucidate the correlations among the indicators, and to determine its degree of response to O₃. Methods: The growth, physiological characteristics and O₃ uptake capacity of Pinus bungeana seedlings were measured in an open-top O₃ fumigation manual control experiment with three concentration gradients (NF: normal atmospheric O₃ concentration, NF40: normal atmospheric O₃ concentration plus 40 nmlol/mol; NF80: normal atmospheric O₃ concentration plus 80 nmol/mol), and the relationships between the characteristics of Pinus bungeana under different O₃ concentrations were investigated with correlation analysis, redundancy analysis and analysis of variance. Results: (1) Plant height growth (ΔH), diameter growth at 50 cm (ΔDBH), stomatal size (S), stomatal density (M), stomatal opening (K), stomatal conductance (G_s), net photosynthetic rate (P_n), transpiration rate (E_t), water use efficiency (WUE), maximum photochemical efficiency (F_v/F_m), chlorophyll content (CHL), whole tree water consumption (W), and O₃ uptake rate () all decreased with the increase of O₃ concentration; while intercellular CO₂ concentration () and relative conductivity (L) increased with the increase of O₃ concentration; (2) growth indicators of Pinus bungeana under O₃ stress (ΔH, ΔDBH) were the most correlated with O₃ uptake status (, W), followed by photosynthetic indicators (, WUE, ,, ) and growth indicators (ΔH, ΔDBH) and stomatal characteristics (K, M, S) under O₃ stress, some physiological indicators (L, ) were relatively weakly correlated with photosynthesis (, WUE,,, ) and stomatal (K, M, S); (3) all the indicators of Pinus bungeana were significantly different under O₃ treatments of NF and NF80 (P < 0.05), ΔH, ΔDBH, M, CHL, , , W and were most significantly different under NF and NF40 treatments, and K, S, WUE, , , , L were more significantly different under NF40 and NF80 treatments. Conclusion: The experiment proved that the growth of Pinus bungeana was slowed, photosynthetic capacity was reduced, and the absorption capacity of O₃ was further reduced by long-term exposure to high concentration of O₃. The growth of Pinus bungeana was most correlated with the changes of O₃ absorption characteristics, and the stomatal characteristics were most correlated with photosynthetic physiological characteristics, and the reduction of photosynthetic capacity etc. further led to the curtailment of its growth.

Europium (Eu) doped Calcium borophosphate (CBP) phosphors were synthesized via the solid-state diffusion method. The prepared Europium (Eu) doped Calcium borophosphate (CBP) powder was heated up to 600 ℃ for 6 h for a complete diffusion of ions in the powder system. XRD results showed that the prepared phosphors exhibit a well-crystallized hexagonal phase. The complete diffusion inside the CBP/Eu powder system has been confirmed by the presence of elements such as P, O, Bi, Ca, C, Eu, and B. Apart from that, the synthesized powder system has shown a down-conversion property where the Eu³⁺-activated ion was excited at 251 nm. Under the excitation of 251 nm, CBP/Eu phosphor showed intense emissions peaking at 591,617, and 693 nm due to the ⁵D₀ → ⁷F₁, ⁵D₀ → ⁷F₂, and ⁵D₀ → ⁷F₄ transition of Eu³⁺ ions. The obtained results suggest that the CBP/Eu phosphors have the potential for spectral response coating materials to improve photovoltaic (PV) panel efficiency.

To investigate the possible role of arbuscular mycrrhizal fungi (AMF) in alleviating the negative effects of salinity on Stevia rebaudiana (Bert.), the regenerated plantlets in tissue culture was transferred to pots in greenhouse and inoculated with Glomus intraradices. Salinity caused a significant decrease in chlorophyll content, photosynthesis efficiency and enhanced the electrolyte leakage. The use of AMF in salt –affected plants resulted in improved all above mentioned characteristics. Hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents increased in salt stressed plants while a reduction was observed due to AMF inoculation. CAT activity showed a significant increase up to 2 g/l and then followed by decline at 5 g/l NaCl in both AMF and non-AMF treated stevia, however, AMF inoculated plants maintained lower CAT activity at all salinity levels (2 and 5 g/l). Enhanced POX activities in salt- treated stevia plants were decreased by inoculation of plants with AMF. The addition of NaCl to stevia plants also resulted in an enhanced activity of SOD whilst, AMF plants maintained higher SOD activity at all salinity levels than those of non-AMF inoculated plants. AMF inoculation was capable of alleviating the damage caused by salinity on stevia plants by reducing oxidative stress and improving photosynthesis efficiency.