ISHS Acta Horticulturae 660: V International Congress on Artichoke
INFLUENCE OF HEAD SIZE IN HARVESTING "BLANCA DE TUDELA" ARTICHOKES |
| Authors: | A. Malumbres, I. Lahoz, J.I. Macua, A. Santos, I. Urmeneta, M.A. Arrondo, I. Iñigo |
| Keywords: | Industrial efficiency, harvesting form, Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus, yield, number of heads, processed artichoke, harvesting passes |
| Abstract:
This work has been carried out encouraged by the concern of the agricultural industry from “El Valle del Ebro” with the study of the viability of harvesting smaller artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus) heads what it would lead to an improve in the quality of processed artichokes. The three different harvesting types tested in relation to head size on two cultivars obtained from “Blanca de Tudela” (“Selección ITGA” and “CLON 303”) have been the following: “Normal” (Head size > 65 mm), “Normal and Smalls” (Head size amongst 40 and 70 mm) and “Smalls” (Head size > 50 mm). Results have shown substantial differences in yield and number of heads produced for each of the harvesting types, without significant differences amongst cultivars. Higher yields have been achieved on “Normal” harvest type and lower yields occured when “Smalls” heads were harvested. Highest yield was reached by ITGA cultivar with 14.69 t/ha, same clon on “Smalls” harvest type only attained 8.35 t/ha. Number of heads per hectare on the latter harvest type was considerably higher than on “Normal” one for both clons (153,571 against 129,167 heads/ha for ITGA cultivar). “Smalls” harvest type needed the higher number of passes during the harvest season. This number rised up to 9 during may. “Normal & Smalls” only required 3 passes during either april and may which resulted in a decrease of labour costs. Controls in industry showed that late harvesting (half way through may onwards) leads to a decrease of industrial efficiency of processed artichoke. | |
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