Male Flower-Inducing Effects of Silver Nitrate in a Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) Gynoecious Line

Silver nitrate solution at different concentrations was used to spray the gynoecious seedlings of Cucumis sativus L.(self-bred line S17) at the two- to four-leaf stages to induce male flowers in the plants. Two successive sprays at the two-leaf stage at a rate of 300 mg/L (w/v) gave the best male-flower-inducing effect. In this treatment, the number of induced male flowers was the maximum (in 20 nodes), the node position of the first male flowers was the lowest and the rate of mortality was the minimum.