Soil properties, growth and spears yield quality of five asparagus cultivars grown in tropical soil affected by NaCl applications

Abstract

To cultivate asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) in the tropics is constrained by high temperature and humidity that are potentially stimulating the development of soil-borne diseases. The research was aimed to observe the NaCl applications effects on properties of soil physicochemical, growth and spears yield quality of asparagus in the tropical medium elevation (730 meters above sea levels). The experiment used Split-Plot Design with three levels of NaCl concentrations (1, 2 and 3 g L−1, respectively) as the main plot and five asparagus cultivars (Atlas F1, de Paoli F1, Jing Green F1, San Knight F1 and Jaleo) as the subplot with three repetitions. No interaction was found between NaCl applications and asparagus cultivars at 12 weeks after planting. NaCl concentrations significantly increased soil electrical conductivity (2.14 -2.68dS m−1); levels of soil Na+ (1.77-2.34 cmol kg−1) and Cl- (25.02 -27.79 mg kg−1), but decreased the levels of Ca2+ and Mg2+, respectively by 1.23 and 1.44 cmol kg−1. Higher spears number and weight of asparagus were produced by cultivars of Jaleo (54.3% and 66.4%, respectively) and Atlas F1 (50.9% and 62.6%, respectively). The conclusion shows that Jaleo and Atlas F1 can adapt to the tropical medium environment due to their genetic traits.