Marketable Head Weight Research Articles

Effect of spraying with balanced nano fertilizer and boron on yield and chemical characteristics of two hybrids of cabbage Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.

This study was conducted during agricultural season 2021-2022 at the research station of Department of Horticulture and Landscape/ College of Agriculture/ Tikrit University, to study the effect of foliar application of balanced nano-fertilizer and boron on two hybrids of cabbage Brassica oleracea var. capitata L. The experiment included three factors, the first factor is three concentrations of balanced nano-fertilizer viz, 0, 20 and 30 g L-1 the second factor is spraying of boron at two concentrations namely, 0 and 5 mg L-1. The third factor is using two hybrids namely, Dlal and Globe Master. The experiment was laid out according to Randomized Completed Block Design (R.C.B.D.) With split plot arrangement with three replications. The results showed that, the spraying with boron at 5 mg L-1 concentration led to a significant increase in the total head weight, marketable head weight, head circumference, total plant yield, and nitrate ratio. The hybrid Dlal had highest values in all studied characteristics except the nitrate percentage compared with the hybrid Globe Master.

Effect of Cladding Material and Date of Transplanting on Growth and Yield of Greenhouse Broccoli During Winter in High Altitude Ladakh, India

Broccoli is a cool-season crop. The optimum temperature for initiation of flowering and head growth is 15-20°C. Due to subfreezing temperatures at night, the crop is not traditionally cultivated in winter in the high-altitude Ladakh region. We found that growing broccoli in a passive solar greenhouse in winter is feasible. The choice of greenhouse cladding material and the date of transplanting are important factors that need to be considered. The mean marketable head weight of the cv. Fiesta and KTS-1 in a passive solar trench greenhouse with polycarbonate cladding material transplanted on 8 September were 403±106 and 169±100 g, respectively. Delayed transplanting on 8 October did not produce any marketable head. Covering the greenhouse with a polyethylene sheet did not result in marketable heads on both transplanting dates. We anticipate our study to be a starting point for researchers and the farming community to optimize the greenhouse production of broccoli during freezing winter-months in high-altitude regions.

Growing Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var capitata L.) in Cold Winter under Passive Solar Greenhouse in Trans Himalayan Ladakh Region

Greenhouse experiments were conducted in three seasons (2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20) to study the feasibility to grow cabbage, a temperature sensitive crop, during freezing winter months at high altitude (elevation 3340 m) trans-Himalayan Ladakh region. Three varieties viz. Golden Acre, Videshi and Megaton were studied under an improvised passive solar greenhouse. Head was formed in all the varieties despite the temperature extremes (0.0±1.6 to 39.5±0.9 ºC) inside the greenhouse. The mean marketable head weight ranged from 428.6±72.1 g to 831.2±193.0 g, depending on the variety. The mean head weight of Golden Acre was 831 g, which is 15-fold higher as compared to that of the crop grown under traditional greenhouse in Ladakh. However, the marketable head weight was lower as compared to the yield potential of the varieties. It took 133-163 days for Golden Acre to reach maturity for harvest as compared to the expected 60-65 days. Dramatic declines in intercellular CO2 concentration, photosynthesis rate and water-use efficiency were observed at 2:00 PM, which indicated that the plants were severely affected by high temperatures inside the greenhouse. High temperature inside the greenhouse resulted in bolting, head-splitting and loose head forming, and it ranged from 8-36% of the crop depending on the year and variety. The study suggested that cabbage can be successfully grown under improvised passive solar greenhouse during severe winter months in the trans-Himalayan Ladakh.

EFFECT OF CHEMICAL AND ORGANIC FERTILIZER AND AGRICULTURAL DISTANCES ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF TWO LETTUCE (LACTUCA SATIVA L.) VARIETIES GROWN UNDER UNHEATED PLASTIC HOUSE

This experiment was conducted in an unheated plastic house in Horticulture and Landscape design Department, college of Agriculture and Forestry, Mosul University during the winter season of the year 2013-2014 to investigate the possibility of lettuce crop production under protected condition during the winter season, which cannot be grown in the field at this time in Mosul City. Two lettuce cultivars were used Binco and Paris Island, the seeds were planted in 5/9 and transplanted inside the unheated plastic house in 5/11 at two agricultural distances: 30 and 40 cm and plants were fertilized with two organic fertilizers: Pow hums and Humistar which were applied to the soil as a solution at a rate of 3 gm.l-1 for the two organic fertilizers, the control treatment was fertilized with a chemical fertilizer at the recommended rates. An RCBD factorial experiment with 12 treatments (2 x 2 x 3) were used. Results showed that there were no significant differences between the two varieties in most vegetative growth and yield traits while there were a significant superiority of the 40 cm distance on the 30 cm distance in head circumference, leaf area, stem weight and mean marketable head weight while there were a significant superiority of the treatment of 30 cm planting distance in terms of marketable and total yield. It is worth to note that there were no significant differences between the organic fertilization treatments with the normal chemical fertilized plants in terms of vegetative and yield in all vegetative traits mentioned traits expect the mean stem weight.

Effect of Cultural and Biological Treatments in Managing Clubroot Disease of Cabbage in Sidhuwa, Nepal

The Plasmodiophora brassicae Woronin is an important soil pathogen that attacks brassicaceae family of plants. The ability of pathogen to survive in soil for many years as a resting structure even in the absence of suitable host has increased its threat by making it more devastating. Lower effectiveness of treatments applied so far and failure to completely eradicate the disease once it enters the field has posed more problems. The study was conducted at a disease infected field in Sidhuwa, Dhankuta. It was focused on the effectiveness of different cultural and biological treatments against clubroot disease under field conditions. The treatments; lime, combination of lime and vermicompost, Effective Microorganisms (EM) solution and Trichoderma viride were arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design and replicated four times. The yield and yield attributing parameters and clubroot scale were recorded at the time of harvest. Values like Disease Incidence, Disease Severity Index and Disease Control Percentage were calculated based on clubroot scale value. The treatments showed no significant influence on vegetative parameters of the plants and on disease incidence. However, the combined treatment of lime and vermicompost was found to be most effective regarding disease severity and disease control i.e. the least Disease Severity Index (31.25%) and highest Disease Control Percentage (50.94%) compared to the control were obtained from the combined treatment of lime and vermicompost. Effective Microorganisms showed the highest disease severity. The combination of lime and vermicompost used as a treatment yielded highest marketable head weight (1.779 kg) and head diameter (19.90 cm).
 Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 7(1): 96-101

Assessment of the response of Plasmodiophora brassicae in contaminated horticultural land, using lime‐based fertilizer concentrations

AbstractInfection of brassica crops with the clubroot pathogen, Plasmodiophora brassicae, can result in stunted plant growth and wilting, which can severely affect crop yield. Determining P. brassicae infection within a field prior to crop planting has long posed a problem for choosing appropriate control treatments. The options for control of this pathogen are limited and in the UK and are based on adjusting pH with soil amendments. In this study quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was investigated for measurement of this pathogen in different control treatments. The qPCR was capable of reliably quantifying P. brassicae at levels greater than and including 103 resting spores/g soil. The assay was used to study the effect of lime‐based products (LimeX) on the incidence of the clubroot pathogen in field trials with broccoli crops grown on contaminated land. The results showed that variation occurred in clubroot resting spore levels in treated and untreated plots during the crop growing period. In year one there was a 96% decrease in spore load during the growth of the crop. Treatment with LimeX resulted in a greater marketable head weight of broccoli in 2 years of the field trials, and significantly reduced gall numbers on the roots in 1 year. The rate of lime (calcium carbonate) application was not found to have a significant effect in this study, however a greater reduction in clubroot was observed at higher LimeX concentrations.

Light modification by color nets improve quality of lettuce from summer production

Abstract The effects of utilization of different color shade nets in lettuce production during the summer season were evaluated in Serbian climate conditions for pearl, blue, red and black shade nets in comparison to open field production. Applied shade nets (with shade index of 50%) significantly reduced solar irradiation (from 890 in open field to 400–560 Wm−2 under the shade nets) and photosynthetically active radiation (from 2020 in open field to less than 1000 μmol s−1 m−2 under the shade nets). Color shade nets affected both, properties of lettuce during the growing period and its morphological properties. Namely, the leaf area index was increased, lettuce heads were characterized with significantly higher marketable head weight and head diameter, the period from planting to bolting was significantly shorter, the outer leafs were characterized with more intensive green tone (–a*) and the lettuce leafs were softer and more tender for lettuce grown under the shade nets in comparison to open field production. In respect to lettuce composition, total chlorophyll content, contents of both chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b, as well as carotenoid content were significantly higher in shaded leaves of lettuce than in the control plants. Significantly higher (30.78 mg GAE g−1 d.m.) total phenol content was determined in plants grown under the pearl shade nets accompanied with significantly higher flavonoids content (14.28 mg RE g−1 d.m.) and significantly higher antioxidant properties (lower EC50 DPPH values) in comparison to all other nets. However, the antioxidant properties of control plants were at the same level as for the pearl net, in spite of lower phenols and flavonoids content.

Fertilizer Type on Cabbage Growth and Yield

ABSTRACTUse of synthetic fertilizers can cause long-term problems for the environment. Developing a suitable strategy for agricultural application of alternative types of fertilizer is important. Commercial organic liquid fertilizers and a urea solution were utilized to investigate effects on growth and yield of Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.). The experiment included the cvs. Ramso and Copenhagen and the commercially available liquid fertilizers urea at 1 g·L−1; humic acid at 5 mL·L−1, Higro Amin-L 5 mL·L−1, and Maxinim at 5 mL·L−1. The interaction of ‘Copenhagen’ and Maxinim produced the highest percentage dry matter, widest heads and most marketable yield, longest stems, and highest percentage nitrogen. The interaction of ‘Copenhagen’ and Higro Amin-L produced the widest leaves and heaviest total and marketable head weights. The interaction of ‘Ramos’ and humic acid produced the fewest loose leaves. Use of ‘Copenhagen’ and Higro Amin-L fertilizer improves leaf width, total head weight, and marketable head weight. The interaction of ‘Copenhagen’ combined with Maxinim improves percentage dry matter, head diameter, and marketable yield. ‘Ramos’ combined with urea produced the fewest days to 50% head initiation and days to 50% marketable maturity. The best response in plant growth, increased head yield, and quality was with cv. Copenhagen fertilized with Maxinim.

Mulching and different levels of nitrogen and phosphorus improve yield and quality attributes of broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) and physicochemical property of soil

A field experiment was conducted on broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italic) hybrid Puspa during rabi season of 2013-14 to 2015-16 under the mid-hills of Meghalaya. The effect of mulching, different levels of nitrogen and phosphorous on the physicochemical properties of soil, yield and quality attributes of broccoli were studied. The treatments were consisting of nine nutrient combinationshaving three doses of N (Urea) and P2O5 (SSP) with and without mulching. The experiment was conducted in factorial randomized block design with three replications. The observations were recorded for growth, yield and quality attributes of plants and physicochemical properties of soil. All the growth, yield and quality attributes except vitamin-C and â-carotene increases with the increase in dosage of N and P fertilization under mulching condition. The results of mulching also have shown significant improvement in soil fertility parameters as well as yield and quality attributing traits. The treatment comprises of mulch (10 t/ha) + FYM (10 t/ha) + N120P80K60 gave higher gross plant weight (0.8 kg), marketable head weight (0.41 kg) and yield (16.6 t/ha) over the other treatments, could be recommended for the growers of the north eastern region for higher yield (18.4%) and profit.

Influence of FYM and irrigation frequency on yield, vitamin and mineral contents of organic cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata)

A field experiment to assess the effect of organic fertilizers on the growth and yield of cabbage was conducted at the Research farm of Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi (U.P.). A Randomized Block Design with four level of FYM replicated three times was used in the experiment. Neem seed kernel extract (NSKE) 4 per cent was sprayed at the advent of insect pest infestation. In addition to marketable yields, cabbage leaves were digested and analyzed for 11 macro-and micronutrients. Vitamins C and E of mature crops were evaluated by high performance liquid chromatography. Soil samples were also taken at harvest, extracted with suitable extractant solution and analyzed for essential nutrients. Application of different level of FYM had varying effects on the growth and yield of cabbage. Effect of FYM was better in both the cabbage variety with respect to their variables measured, i.e. height, marketable head weight, and yield per ha. These findings can be explained in terms of the availability, especially, of the macro-nutrients in each of the treated plots. The impact of irrigation frequency on yield is transparent. We conclude that irrigation frequency had a significant bearing on yield.

The Influence of Technological Inputs on Yield and Quality Traits of Greenhouse Cabbage

Cabbage is among the vegetables which can be found on the market throughout the year, greenhouse crop being a source of fresh cabbage in the cold season. The aim of this experiment was to study the influence of planting density/plant spacing and additional fertilization on the yield and quality traits of greenhouse cabbage. The low plant spacing (50 x 25 cm) revealed the highest yields regardless the applied additional fertilization. Foliar fertilization with Ferticare (24:8:16) as split applications during all growing season, provided the highest marketable head weight, as well as the highest vitamin C content and total soluble solids content of cabbage heads.

English

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different drip irrigation methods and different irrigation levels on yield, quality and water use characteristics of lettuce (Lactuca sativa var. longifolia cv. Lital) cultivated in a solar greenhouse from 07 October 2009 to 03 December 2009 in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey. The irrigation methods were consisted of traditional surface drip irrigation (TDI), subsurface drip irrigation at 10 cm drip line depth (SDI10) and subsurface drip irrigation at 20 cm drip line depth (SDI20). At the treatment of irrigation levels, five irrigation treatments (I) were based on adjustment coefficients (0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.0 and 1.25) of Class A pan evaporation. For the yield and quality parameters of plant; marketable head weight (yield), number of marketable leaves, leaf area, plant height and diameters, plant dry weight, core diameters and firmness of head, leaf chlorophyll content, total soluble solids (TSS as °Brix), electrical conductivity (EC), pH, total dissolved solids (TDS) and salinity of leaves’ juice were determined. The yield and yield components were not affected by the irrigation methods except forcore and plant diameters. Irrigation levels had significantly (p < 0.01) different effects on yield and yield components except for plant dry weight, plant height and head firmness. The results showed that the highest yield was obtained from SDI10xI100 treatment. The water use efficiency (WUE) and the irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) increased as the irrigation was reduced.   Key words: Subsurface drip irrigation, irrigation level, water use efficiency.

ARE ORGANIC N FERTILIZING STRATEGIES ABLE TO IMPROVE LETTUCE YIELD, USE OF NITROGEN AND N STATUS?

Despite the importance of fertilizing practices in the crop yield improvement, nitrogen (N) utilization, and N status, their management by farmers is still rather empirical, especially when new organic materials are applied. Therefore, the aim of this research was to study the possible bio-products (anaerobic digestates and on-farm compost) applications and to evaluate their effects on lettuce performance, N efficiency and soil properties. The plant and soil N indicators were also investigated to reduce the N supply in lettuce production. To accomplish these objectives a three-year field experiment was carried out comparing the following N fertilization strategies: organic, with anaerobic digestates, based on stabilized wine distillery wastewater (SAD) and not stabilized wine distillery wastewater (NSAD) and on-farm compost, based on olive pomace compost (OPC); mineral (MIN), with ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate; mineral-organic, with a slow N release commercial fertilizer (CORG). All treatments received 140 kg N ha−1 and they were compared with an unfertilized control (CONTR). The organic material application increased the marketable yield of 25.6, 20.3 and 10.1% for SAD, NSAD, and OPC treatments, respectively, in comparison with the CONTR. No significant reduction was found for both anaerobic digestates in respect to conventional fertilizers, while the OPC application significantly decreased the crop yield compared to MIN and CORG treatments. Moreover, the marketable head weight showed no significant difference among MIN, CORG, and SAD treatments, while a significant reduction of the weight was observed for NSAD and OPC. These findings highlighted the importance of organic fertilizer choice to sustain lettuce yield. The anaerobic digestates also enhanced head weight of 18.9 and 11.9% for SAD and NSAD, respectively, compared to CONTR, pointing out that the by-products application could be a valid agricultural practice to provide nutrients. Besides, no significant difference in N utilization parameters was found between SAD, MIN and CORG, indicating the effectiveness of the stabilized wine wastewater. Among the plant and soil N indicators tested, our results suggested that the leaves green index and nitrate contents in the leafstalks not only were the most reliable methods for evaluating N status, but they also offered potential advantages of both an easier sampling and a higher positive correlation with lettuce performance. Finally, since the agro-industrial residues did not significantly increase the soil potentially toxic elements level, the findings of this research pointed out that the organic materials can be usefully applied, at least in the short-term period.

Responses of lettuce to irrigation levels and nitrogen forms

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different irrigation levels and nitrogen forms on yield, quality and water use efficiency of lettuce (Lactuca sativa var. longifolia cv. Lital) under greenhouse conditions during the periods November 2003 - February 2004 in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey. Four irrigation treatments with a drip irrigation system were based on adjustment coefficients (Kcp) (0, 0.75, 1.0, and 1.25) of Class A pan evaporation. Nitrogen (N) treatments were consisted of ammonium nitrate (NAN) and ammonium sulfate (NAS) forms. As the yield and quality parameters of plant; mean marketable head weight, number of total and marketable leaves, plant height and diameters, root wet weight, plant dry weight, core diameters and tightness of head were determined. N forms significantly affected plant diameter and number of total and marketable leaves. Yield and other yield components were not affected by different N forms. Irrigation levels had significant (p < 0.01) different effects on yield and yield components except for plant dry weight. The results showed that the highest yield was obtained from NANxKcp100 interaction plot. The water use efficiency (WUE) and the irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) increased as the irrigation level reduced. Key words: Drip irrigation, irrigation level, nitrogen, fertigation.

Dynamic relationships between field temperatures and romaine lettuce yield and head quality

Abstract Romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. var. longifolia Lam.) has great potential as a winter alternative crop in coastal South Carolina. Apache (A), Darkland (D), Green Tower (GT), Green Forest (GF), Ideal Cos (IC), and Tall Guzmaine (TG) romaine lettuce cultivar transplants were planted on 9 different planting dates in Charleston, South Carolina (SC) on monthly intervals from September to April from 1998 to 2001. The objective was to determine romaine's yield and quality responses to different growing season climates. Growing season mean (GSM) minimum or maximum temperatures (temps) were determined by averaging daily min and max temps from planting date to harvest date. The growing season for the September planting date (PD) was the warmest, followed by the April PD. The coldest growing season was the December PD, followed by January and November PDs. Collectively, GSM max temps ranged from 17 to 27 °C and GSM min temps ranged from 5 to 15 °C with these planting dates. The total accumulated heat units (Base 4.5 °C) were similar for all 8 PD growing seasons. The harvest maturities were similar between: September versus April PDs; October versus March PDs; and November versus February PDs. The December PD growing season required the greatest number of days to reach harvest from transplanting followed by the January PD growing season, with every 1 °C decrease in GSM min or max temps, days to harvest increased by 5 days. GSM min temperature affected number of marketable heads produced per plot more than GSM max temps for A, D, GT and TG but not GF and IC. Individual marketable head weight, however, was unaffected by GSM min and max temps. When all cultivar data were pooled and regressed, we found that from about 3 to 6 °C GSM min temps, the number of culls produced dropped steeply, but then plateaued from about 6 to 11 °C, and then decreased rapidly from 11 to 14 °C. The major cull defect was loss due to field rots. Generally, the pooled cultivar mean indicated that with an increase in GSM min temps from 3 to 6.5 °C, the rate of field rot production accelerated, but from 6.5 to 14 °C, field rot production was much slower in contrast.

Irrigation and nitrogen level affect lettuce yield in greenhouse condition

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of different irrigation and nitrogen levels on lettuce yield characteristics in greenhouse condition from December 2006 to March 2007. Irrigation levels of 100% of total class A pan (S1), 80% of total class A pan (S2), 60% of total class A pan (S3) and nitrogen levels of 0 kg ha-1 (N1), 100 kg ha-1 (N2), 200 kg ha-1 (N3), and 300 kg ha-1 (N4) were applied by drip system. Irrigation levels did not show any significant effect on head weight, marketable head weight, number of leaves, height of plants, head circle, root length, and root extent except core length and total soluble solid, TSS. The highest head and marketable head weight were found as 355.17 and 334.78 g in S1 application, respectively. Nitrogen levels had no significant effect on measured parameters. These values were the highest as 365.06 and 342.93 g in N3 application.

Effect of s-metolachlor application timing on cabbage tolerance

There is limited information on the effect of s-metolachlor application timing on cabbage tolerance in Ontario. A total of five field trials (1999–2004) were established near Ridgetown Ontario, Canada to evaluate tolerance of cabbage to s-metolachlor applied pre-transplant incorporated, pre-transplant and post-transplant at 800, 1600 and 2400 g a.i./ha. s-Metolachlor applied pre-transplant incorporated, pre-transplant and post-transplant at 800, 1600 and 2400 g a.i./ha did not have any effect on visual injury, marketable head production, marketable head weight and yield of cabbage. There was also no difference among s-metolachlor application timings (pre-transplant incorporated, pre-transplant and post-transplant) in respect to cabbage tolerance. Based on these results s-metolachlor applied pre-transplant incorporated, pre-transplant and post-transplant at 800, 1600 and 2400 g a.i./ha has an acceptable level of crop safety in cabbage.

Growth and development of heads and flowering stalk extension in field-grown Chinese cabbage in the UK

SummaryExperiments over four years measured the extension of the growing point and head growth of the Chinese cabbage cvs Jade Pagoda and Kasumi. In the first three years, three transplantings of plants raised at different temperatures provided data from weekly crop samples to develop simple models of increased growing point height and head weight. Effects on the former established during raising were largely maintained after transplanting. It is suggested that head development and growing point extension differ in their dependency on meteorological variables. Increased field temperature achieves a marketable head weight before the growing point becomes unacceptably high, but this is less likely with increased solar radiation. The models effectively describe independent data from the fourth year.

Force to Shear the Stalk, Stalk Diameter, and Yield of Broccoli in Response to Nitrogen Fertilization and Within-row Spacing

Broccoli [Brassica oleracea L. (Italica Group)] crops may be rejected by wholesale buyers due to unacceptably tough stalks. Four experiments were conducted to examine the effects of various N levels and two within-row spacings (15 and 30 cm) on force to shear the stalk, stalk diameter, and yield of transplanted `Premium Crop' broccoli. Shear was not affected by within-row spacing, and average stalk diameter was decreased only 3 mm by reducing spacing from 30 to 15 cm. Although the 15-cm spacing sometimes produced the greatest total number of marketable, heads, this spacing resulted in higher cull head production, lower average marketable head weight, delayed maturity, and a lower percentage of field-planted transplants producing marketable heads than the 30-cm spacing. Increasing N fertilization decreased force to shear the stalk in only one experiment, when plants were exposed to water deficits and high temperatures. Nitrogen affected stalk diameter only when very low rates (37 and 74 kg·ha-1) were included. Yield of marketable-quality heads often showed no significant response to rates of applied N &gt;112 kg·ha-1, particularly at the 30-cm spacing. Hollow stem was negligible in all experiments.