ISHS Acta Horticulturae 433: I International Symposium on Edible Alliaceae
GARLIC BREEDING IN CUBA |
| Author: | L. Con |
| Abstract:
In the Agricultural Experimental Station of Santiago de las Vegas, nowadays INIFAT, belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture of Cuba has been developed a program of plant breeding with the aim of obtaining adaptation to the country conditions: latitude 19–23 °N; mean monthly temperature of the growing period 21–23 °C, and day length of 11 hours at the beginning of the bulb development period. A clone collected in Sancti Spiritus province with some degree of adaptation to the country, one proceeding from Celaya, Mexico, and another introduced from Guadalupe island were employed as germplasm. In the plant breeding work better result were obtained with the largest diameter bulbs selection. With this method it was possible to increase mean yields from 3 to 7 t/ha. In addition 10 characters were considered in the selection and for their evaluation a punctuation scale was established. The most promising materials were exposed for several years to different climatic conditions; as a consequence remarkable transformations in plants architecture, weight, size of the bulbs and cloves took place, as well as resistance to Alternaria porri (Ell.) Cif. fungus, also resistance to storage, and increasing in dry matter and in yield from 7 to 10 t/ha, wilh records even higher than 15 t/ha. It has been obtained stability under tropical climate. Main characteristics of germplasm used and clones developed from them: 'Sancti Spiritus 3', 'Guadalupe 15' and 'Mexico 14' are described. Due to their purity, uniformity, sanitary conditions and adaptation to tropical climate, it is possible to establish a certification system for quality seeds production and to obtain more secure, productive and economic harvest from these materials. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
