New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science abstracts
Preliminary assessment of the performance of soil-grown wasabi (Wasabia
japonica (Miq.) Matsum.) in New Zealand conditions
R. J. MARTIN
B. DEO
New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food
Research Limited
Private Bag 4704
Christchurch, New Zealand
email: martind@crop.cri.nz
Abstract Wasabi (
Wasabia japonica (Miq.) Matsum.) is a
new crop to New Zealand, and nothing is known of its yield potential, growing
time, or the husbandry requirements to achieve that potential. As part of an
initial assessment, a wasabi crop was grown for 24 months from May 1995 in a
shade house at Lincoln to determine how the yield components developed over
time. The crop was sampled monthly from September 1995 to May 1997. Plant
numbers decreased from 11 to 7/m
2 over the time of the trial, mainly
as a result of disease. Leaf area indices increased rapidly during the spring
to reach full cover in summer and autumn. Stems appeared in December 1995, and
increased to 4/plant by November 1996, and then trebled in number over the next
three summer months. Much of this increase was the result of the growth of
secondary or tertiary stems from buds on the main stems. The high value main
stems weighed c. 30-40 g 8 months after planting, and
c. 70 g 18 months after planting. By March 1997, only 4 of the 25
stems/m
2 were over 60 g each i.e., large enough for the
Japanese high quality fresh market, and two of these were over 100 g. Up
to 5 kg/m
2 of fresh material were produced in the first year
after planting and 6 kg/m
2 in the second year, and most of this
was in the petioles. The crop was hand weeded 9 times and 15 fungicide, seven
insecticide, and five slug and snail bait applications were made over the 2
years of this study.
Keywords wasabi; Wasabia japonica; leaf area; yield
components; harvest date
H99032
Received 13 September 1999; accepted 2 December 1999
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (541K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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