New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science abstracts
Hybrid asparagus cultivars: regional suitability and productivity for
processing and fresh export in Waikato, New Zealand
S. J. McCORMICK
New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food
Research Limited
Private Bag 3123
Hamilton, New Zealand
D. L. THOMSEN
The Horticulture and Food Research
Institute of New Zealand
Bland's Research Orchard
Private Bag 3123
Hamilton, New Zealand
Abstract The green spear production characteristics of 26
European and United States asparagus
(Asparagus officinalis L.
)
hybrids were compared with those of the open-pollinated cultivar `Mary
Washington 500W'. The higher numbers, weights, and proportions of
marketable grade spears produced by the United States hybrids `Jersey Giant',
`Jersey King', and `UC157' and by the Dutch hybrids `Limbras 10' and
`Limbras 26', increased processing and fresh export yields by 50-150% and
160-450% respectively. `Jersey Giant', with earlier production and
higher
Stemphylium disease resistance, was the most
productive. `Limbras 10' and `Jersey King' yielded 22% less
processing and 30% less export product than `Jersey Giant.' For
export, `UC157' produced an equal yield of earlier, higher quality, less purple
spears than `Limbras 10' or `Jersey King'. Country of origin rather than
type provided the best indication of the ability of the hybrids to increase
marketable yields. European and United States double and
single-cross, mixed-sex and all-male hybrids offered similar scope to improve
total yield and early production. The superior spear quality of the
United States hybrids offered better prospects for improving marketable
yield. The United States `New Jersey' hybrids were the only group
with improved
Stemphylium disease resistance.
Keywords asparagus; hybrid; spear number; spear weight; spear
quality; processing yield; fresh export yield; earliness; Stemphylium
resistance
New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 1995, Vol. 23:
205-212
0114-0671/95/2302--0205 $2.50/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1995
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (488K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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