RESUMO
A pot experiment with cucumber cultivar "Jingchun 4" was conducted to study the effects of soil compaction stress on the respiratory metabolism of cucumber root. Two treatments were installed, i.e. , soil bulk densities 1.20 and 1.55 g . cm-3. Under soil compaction stress, the activities of root pyruvate decarboxylase, alcohol dehydrogenase, and lactate dehydrogenase and the contents of root anaerobic respiration products alcohol, acetaldehyde, and lactate increased significantly, while the activities of the key enzymes involved in root aerobic respiration, including malate dehydrogenase, succinate dehydrogenase, and isocitrate dehydrogenase, decreased significantly, root pyruvate and succinate contents had significant increase, whereas root malate content decreased significantly. All the results illustrated that under soil compaction stress, the aerobic respiration of cucumber root was inhibited, while its anaerobic respiration was promoted.