ISHS Acta Horticulturae 559: V International Symposium on Protected Cultivation in Mild Winter Climates: Current Trends for Suistainable Technologies
GROWERS' BARRIERS TO A NEW TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE VEGETABLE NUTRITION USING COLD WEATHER |
| Authors: | Y. Satoh, T. Katoh, K. Ozawa |
| Keywords: | Cold Enrich Technique, mental barriers, nutrition, leafy vegetables, experience of winter production |
| Abstract:
In winter, the Cold Enrich Technique (CET) can be used for improving the nutrition of leafy vegetables. The CET is easy to master and can be spread without any financial supports. Seed a kind of leafy vegetable in an unheated plastic house, when it grows up, open the door of the plastic house for 1-2 weeks, and let the vegetable being chilly. After chilly period, the nutrition of the vegetable will be increased. We introduced CET to same areas in northern main land Japan. However, most of the growers were unwilling to open the doors of their plastic houses in the cold winter. We noticed that growers’ subconscious mental barriers to CET are the opening of the plastic house doors. Most growers recognize the purpose of using plastic house in the wintertime is acceleration of the vegetable growths through warming up. The CET is quite opposite to their recognition. Such recognition made their mental barriers to CET. As the result of the questionnaire to growers, it is found that their mental barrier related to both their understanding of CET and the level of intention to CET. Over 70% of growers who had low mental barriers could understand CET well, and most of them wanted to use CET. However, the ratio of growers who had high mental barriers was lower. Growers produced winter vegetables in unheated plastic houses to increase some pleasures in their winter lives. Growers’ experiences and purposes of winter production influence whether they would use CET after the acceptation of winter production skill. Seven-thirty percent of growers, who had experiences of winter production of leafy vegetables and would like to grow them for making money, wanted to use CET. However, improving quality of leafy vegetables was the next step of winter production for most growers who did not have much experience. Therefore, they still not recognize the advantage of CET. These results suggest that CET is a simple technique, but the spreading of CET depend on the according to growers’ experiences, purposes of their winter production, and levels of technique for growing vegetables in winter. | |
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