Growth of wild cucumber (Echinocystis lobata) in three variants of support (5, 20, 50 cm) and shoot geometry

The experiments included three variants of support: 5 cm, 20 cm, and 50 cm. The data was collected in the years 2020-2023. After developing their first pair of mature leaves, when the plants were about 20-35 cm in length, the plants were photographed. The shutter was released every 15 minutes. The resulting images were combined into a 10 fps video. The following were used for the analysis: 13 recordings of the 5 cm variant and 12 recordings of the 20 and 50 cm variants.

Next, an analysis was performed based on the resulting video using Tracker for kinetic analysis of video objects. The recordings were used to measure the plant growth parameters. The tape measure and point mass tools were used to determine the length of the shoots and to change the position of the apex relative to the areas of the X- and Y-axis photographed over time. To compensate for this, a trend line was drawn (polynomial of the 2nd degree, due to the very good fit, R2 = 0,975–0,995) and new plant length parameters were calculated. 

To enhance the research, cross-sections of the shoots of ten plants were scanned. Samples were taken every 5 cm from the base of the plant. Using ImageJ the following parameters were measured: shoot cross-sectional area, tissue area, perimeter, and circularity.