Abstract:
Correlations between summer stalk characteristics and yield the following season were determined in four asparagus cultivar trials.
Number of stalks, their weight and cross sectional area, circumference of the crown area from which stalks emerged, and plant height were the characteristics considered in the investigation.
Generally, yielding ability of asparagus cultivars was found to be positively correlated with all stalk size parameters.
However, these parameters could not be a reliable criterium for yield prediction for all cultivars and in every year because of differences in regression coefficients.
The probability of an inaccurate yield prediction was greater when the origin and properties of the cultivars included in a given trial were more diverse.
Crown circumference was found to be the parameter most highly correlated with yield.
However, the more reliable yield prediction of different asparagus cultivars was possible by using more than one stalk characteristics in a multiple regression analysis.
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