ISHS Acta Horticulturae 660: V International Congress on Artichoke
ASSESSMENT OF THE USE OF SPROUTED ROOTED "OVOLI" AND OF THE MECHANICAL TRANSPLANTATION OF ARTICHOKES CV. SPINOSO SARDO |
| Authors: | L. Baghino, G.M. Mallica, M. Cadinu, A. Frau, R. Grudina, A. Repetto |
| Abstract:
By tradition artichoke crops are planted manually in Sardinia using “ovoli” removed from plants during thinning out at the end of the harvest. For several years C.R.A.S. has attempted to promote and spread a few innovations in the planting technique of artichoke, such as the use of sprouted rooted “ovoli” and the adoption of mechanical transplanting. Sprouting and rooting of “ovoli” in the nursery guarantee greater uniformity of development thanks to the following factors: a better control of the growth conditions; the possibility of selecting the material to be transplanted; a better control of the frequent pathologies that appear during emergence (the latter is difficult to achieve at sustainable costs in the open field); a field growth cycle reduced by about 15 days; and consequently reduced seasonal irrigation volumes. Thanks to the use of conveniently adapted mechanical transplanting machines, it is possible to cut down on times and layout costs (the capacity of a working farm of 5-6 people is 4000 m˛/h), to use non-skilled labour, and to guarantee better working conditions. Moreover, if micro-irrigation is used, an irrigation system can also be installed at the same time. A few experiments were carried out at the C.R.A.S. farm in Oristano (Sardinia – Italy) in 2001-2002 to compare the traditional layout technique with the use of manually transplanted, sprouted, rooted “ovoli”, in order to point out the possible effects of these techniques on the yield and earliness of the culture. From the data obtained a favourable judgement on the use of these variants in the technique of artichoke plantation can be expressed. | |
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