ISHS Acta Horticulturae 681: IV International Congress on Artichoke
EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT AGRONOMIC PRACTICES ON ARTICHOKE PRODUCTION |
| Authors: | S.M. García, I.T. Firpo, E.L. Cointry, F.S. López Anido, V.P. Cravero |
| Keywords: | Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus, suckers thinning, leaves cut, profitability |
| Abstract:
Traditional globe artichoke agronomic practices as perennial include thinning suckers to one or two per plant. As this manual labour represents 15% of the variable cost, elimination of this practice would increase profitability. Conducting plants with all suckers would increase leaf mass and an additional income could be reached by selling leafs to the pharmacological industry. The objective this work is to analyze to what extent alternative agronomic practices could increase total profitability. Five clones: Ñato, Blanc Hyerois, Camus de Bretagne, Caribou and Salanquet were planted in 1997 in a randomized complete block of two replications of ten plants in the Experimental Field of the Agronomic Faculty of the Rosario National University, Argentina (33º 1´S; 60º 53´W). The plantation grid was 1.40 m between rows and 0.80 m within the row. In 1999 four treatments were applied as the result of the combination of thinning and not thinning suckers each one with leafs cut and without leafs cut. The number of heads per plant, first artichoke weight, height/diameter ratio, days to first harvest, harvest period and total yield were analyzed along a two way ANOVA. Conducting plants with all suckers increased the number of heads per plant by 65%, and as number of heads per plant is a yield component, total yield and thus income/ha also increased by 54% (from US$ 5.250 to 8.120/ha). Leaf cuts both in thinned and not thinned plants diminished head number per plant and total yield by 34%, with a tendency to delay first harvest and shorten harvest period. | |
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