New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science abstracts
Row covers for quality improvement of Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa
subsp. Pekinensis)
J. Hernandez
Department of Crop Production
University of Almeria
04120 Almeria, Spain
email: jhrodri@ual.es
T. Soriano
M. I. Morales
N. Castilla
Department of Horticulture
CIFA-Apartado 2027
18080-Granada, Spain
Abstract Row covers of polypropylene sheeting have
been studied in relation to the quality in Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa
subsp. Pekinensis ‘Nagaoka 50’) for 3 years (1999, 2000, and 2001)
in the area of Granada, Spain, under a Mediterranean continental temperate
climate, on 55-day cycles with transplanting in mid March. The mean commercial
yield for the 3 years was 11.9 kg m-2 under row covers, but only
2.1 kg m-2in open air, owing primarily to the important number
of non-commercial cabbages. The cabbages grown in the open air were exposed
to lower temperatures than under covers and showed a higher number of plants
with bolting and plants lost in the field. The better thermal regime under
the covers and the least vapour pressure deficit favoured heading, reducing
the number of malformed cabbages. The foliar calcium (Ca) content in the
outer leaves was significantly greater in the open air than under the row
cover, whereas the reverse was true in the inner leaves. These lower Ca contents
in the inner leaves of the open air plants, encouraged tipburn. The use of
the row cover constitutes a low-cost technique to improve open air spring
cultivation of this leafy vegetable in this type of Mediterranean continental
climate.
Keywords tipburn; calcium; nutrient uptake; radiation;
vapour pressure deficit; temperature; polypropylene
H03071; Online publication date 11 November 2004 Received 16 July 2003;
accepted 24 August 2004
New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 2004, Vol. 32:
379-388
0014-0671/04/3204-0379 $7.00 © The Royal Society of New Zealand
2004
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