THE INFLUENCE OF SEEDLINGS AGE AND POTS SIZE ON GROWTH AND YIELDING OF CHINESE CABBAGE IN SPRING AND AUTUMN CULTIVATION

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1 2009 vol. 71, DOI: /v x THE INFLUENCE OF SEEDLINGS AGE AND POTS SIZE ON GROWTH AND YIELDING OF CHINESE CABBAGE IN SPRING AND AUTUMN CULTIVATION Jan KRĘŻEL, Eugeniusz KOŁOTA Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences Plac Grunwaldzki 24 A, Wrocław, Poland Received: April 4, 2009; Accepted: July 2, 2009 Summary Two parallel experiments in two factorial design using the method of random sub-blocks in four replications were conducted in at the Experimental Station of the Horticulture Department of University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław. The effect of seedlings age (3, 4, 5- weekly) and diameter of pots (25, 32, 44, 55 mm) on the yield of Chinese cabbage cultivar Optiko grown in spring and autumn was evaluated. The highest marketable yield in spring and autumn during the harvest from all objects at the same time was obtained from 5-weekly seedlings grown in pots with a diameter of 55 mm. The use of younger seedlings from pots with smaller diameters was decreased the yielding of cabbage and influenced on forming the smaller heads. Spring cultivation period in comparison to autumn was allowed to obtain a higher marketable yield of Chinese cabbage with a smaller share of not fully grown head cabbage in total yield but a greater share of decay head. key words: Chinese cabbage, diameter of pots, seedlings age, yield INTRODUCTION Chinese cabbage (Brassica pekinensis Rupr.) is a annual plant characterized by short vegetation period, high fertility and is a valuable source of protein, vitamin C, carotene and mineral salts. For optimal development it requires high temperature during the initial phase of its growth within the 18-20ºC whereas low temperature (10-15ºC) and short day are required at the time of head formation (Balvoll 1995). In other conditions in the spring and summer it forms less robust heads and quicker generates flowering shoots. It can be reduced by choosing cultivars characterized by low tendency to forming flowering shoots (Krężel & Kołota 2002), using flat plant covers with perforated polyethylene film and non-woven polypropylene (Balvoll 1995) or grown plants from potted transplants (Kalisz & Cebula 2002). Application of pots in the production cycle Corresponding author: jan.krezel@up.wroc.pl Copyright by RIVC

2 26 VEGETABLE CROPS RESEARCH BULLETIN 71 reduces the time to prepare seedlings, affect the better its quality and also allows for earlier and more balanced in terms quantitative and qualitative yield (Kołota & Adamczewska-Sowińska 2000, Babik 2002, Biesiada & Kołota 2005). The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of seedlings age and pots size on the growth and yielding of Chinese cabbage grown in the spring and autumn. MATERIAL AND METHODS Two parallel experiments in two factorial design in the spring and autumn were conducted in at the Experimental Station of the Horticulture Department of University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław. Experiments were established using the method of random sub-blocks in four replications and plot area to harvest 5.4 m 2 (1.5 x 3.6). The range of the study was concerned the seedlings age (5,4,3-weekly) and pots size (diameter of 55, 44, 32, 25 mm and capacity: cm 3, 69.3 cm 3, 32.0 cm 3, 21.3 cm 3 ). Chinese cabbage cv. Optico was planted using pot seedlings produced in multi trays filled with peat substrate fertilized with MIS-4 mixture at the dose of 2 kg of part A contained macro-component and 135 g of part B included microcomponent in calculation on 1 m 3. The ph of the medium was brought to 6.5. Seedlings was not fed during their production. Chinese cabbage was planted out in the field in different years, respectively: , and (spring), , and (autumn) at spacing of 30 x 45 cm. Phosphorus and potassium fertilization was applied according to the results of the soil analyses to attain the levels of 60 mg P and 200 mg K per 1 dm 3 of the soil. Nitrogen fertilization in the amount of 150 kg N ha -1 was applied twice: as a pre-vegetation at the dose of 100 kg N ha -1 and as a top dressing 2 weeks after planting of seedlings at the rate of 50 kg N ha -1. The ph of the soil was limited as Hand harvest of heads was conducted once in different years respectively: , and in the spring and , and in the autumn. The total yield (produced aboveground plant biomass), marketable and the yield of decay and not fully developed head cabbage and the unit mass of head were determined at the harvest. Obtained results were analyzed using Tukey s test at significance level P=0.05. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The influence of tested factors on the yield and chemical composition of plants was composed similar in different years therefore it presented them as means from 3 years of experiments. On the base of obtained results can be concluded that the age of seedlings during the harvest from all objects in the same time had a significant impact on the marketable yield of Chinese cabbage cultivated in the spring (Table 1). The highest yield of cabbage was attained from 5- weekly seedling sown on (73.45 t ha -1 ) and it was similar to 4-weekly

3 J. KRĘŻEL, E. KOŁOTA THE INFLUENCE OF SEEDLINGS seedlings (70.73 t ha -1 ). The average yield was significantly lower from the youngest seedlings sown on (64.75 t ha -1 ). Independent on seedlings age the significantly highest marketable yield was obtained from seedlings grown in multi trays with cell diameter of 55 mm (79.24 t ha -1 ). It was observed that with the decreasing of pots size the marketable yield was significantly lower and from pots with diameter of 25 mm it amounted 56.0 t ha -1. The effect of pots size on the yield of vegetables was also confirmed in the previously study of Kołota & Adamczewska-Sowińska (2000) and Biesiada & Kołota (2005). Taking into consideration two experimental factors the highest marketable yield of Chinese cabbage in the spring (84.38 t ha -1 ) was obtained from 5-weekly seedlings grown in multi trays with the largest diameter (55 mm). Table 1. The influence of seedlings age and pots size on the marketable yield of Chinese cabbage in spring cultivation, means from Diameter Seedlings age of pots (mm) 5-weekly 4-weekly 3-weekly Mean Mean LSD P=0.05 for: age of seedlings (A 5.00 diameter of pots (B) 4.62 interaction (AxB) 8.54 interaction (BxA) 7.99 In autumn cultivation, similar to the spring, the highest marketable yield of cabbage head amounted t ha -1 was noticed by using the oldest 5-weekly seedlings (Table 2). At the same level of significance yielded the plants from 4- weekly transplants and the lowest from the youngest 3-weekly seedlings (49.40 t ha -1 ). The difference in yield between the transplants of 3 to 5-weekly was significant. The highest marketable yield of Chinese cabbage amounted t ha -1 and t ha -1 was obtained by using pots with diameter of 44 and 55 mm to production the transplants. It was observed that in the autumn, as in the spring, there was growing tendency to an increase the yield with increasing size of the pots in which seedlings were produced. In this term the highest yield was obtained from 5-weekly transplants grown in pots with diameter of 55 mm (57.25 t ha -1 ). The marketable yield of Chinese cabbage obtained in the spring was about 25.97% higher than in the autumn.

4 28 VEGETABLE CROPS RESEARCH BULLETIN 71 Table 2. The influence of seedlings age and pots size on the marketable yield of Chinese cabbage in autumn cultivation, means from Diameter Seedlings age of pots (mm) 5-weekly 4-weekly 3-weekly Mean Mean LSD P=0.05 for: age of seedlings (A) 4.58 diameter of pots (B) 4.29 interaction (AxB) 7.90 interaction (BxA) 7.43 The greatest average unit mass of cabbage head amounted 1.14 kg was obtained from 5-weekly transplants grown in pots with the largest diameter of 55 mm and cultivated in the spring (Fig. 1). It was also observed that the use of increasingly smaller diameter of pots and a shortening of the period of seedlings production from 5 to 3 weeks had an effect on the reduction of unit mass of cabbage heads. The smallest heads at average weight of 0.7 kg formed cabbage cultivated from the youngest transplants sown on to the pots with diameter of 25 mm. Similar dependence obtained in their studies with kohlrabi Biesiada & Kołota (2005) and with leaf parsley Winiarska & Kołota (2005). In the autumn the unit mass of Chinese cabbage heads was less diversed than in the spring and ranged from 0.77 kg when it was produced from 5-weekly seedlings in pots with diameter of 55 mm to 0.61 kg from 4-weekly seedlings in pots with diameter of 25 mm. Cabbage heads formed in the autumn were average lighter at about 0.24 kg in comparison to heads obtained in the spring. The structure of total yield of Chinese cabbage grown in the spring was shown on Fig. 2. The results can be concluded that the highest percentage share of marketable yield in total yield of aboveground plant biomass was characterized by cabbage sown on and produced from 4-weekly seedlings in pots with diameter of 44 mm (65.59%). The relatively high share of this yield is also characterized by plants grown from 5-weekly seedlings in pots with diameter of 55 and 32 mm. The smallest share of marketable heads in the total plant biomass was recorded for Chinese cabbage grown from the latest sowing of transplants and in the smallest pots with diameter of 25 mm (54.82%). Besides the greatest tendency to form not fully developed heads weighing below 0.5 kg (6.72%) was observed. The smallest number of not fully formed cabbage heads was obtained from plots planted of 4-weekly seedlings grown in the pots with diameter of 44 mm (2.20%). During the spring the appearance of head cabbage rot with symptoms of tipburn was found. The most of them were noticed in the total yield of cabbage grown in pots with the largest diameter of 55 mm from both seedlings: 5 and 4-weekly, respectively 5.71 and 5.20%. The healthiest

5 J. KRĘŻEL, E. KOŁOTA THE INFLUENCE OF SEEDLINGS plants were produced from seedlings sown on to pots with diameter of 44 mm (2.16%). The large share of covered leaves in total yield was recorded for Chinese cabbage grown from 5-weekly transplants in pots with diameter of 25 mm and from 3 weekly seedlings in all sizes of pots. The least of these leaves had plants with the earliest sowing to pots with diameter of 55 mm (28.34%). kg 1,2 Spring cultivation Autumn cultivation 1,0 0,8 0,6 0,4 Diameter of pot 55 mm 44 mm 32 mm 25 mm 0,2 0,0 5-weekly 4-weekly 3-weekly 5-weekly 4-weekly 3-weekly Age of seedlings Fig. 1. The influence of seedlings age and pots size on the mean unit mass of Chinese cabbage head in the spring and autumn cultivation, means from % 5-weekly seedlings 4-weekly seedlings 3-weekly seedlings 80% 60% 40% 20% Share in total yield leaves decay heads of cabbage not fully developed heads marketable heads 0% Diameter of pots (mm) Fig. 2. The influence of seedlings age and pots size on the structure of total yield of Chinese cabbage in the spring cultivation, means from

6 30 VEGETABLE CROPS RESEARCH BULLETIN 71 In the autumn the highest share of marketable heads in total yield (62.64%) was characterized by cabbage plants produced from 4-weekly seedlings sown on to pots with diameter of 55 mm (Fig. 3). The high share of marketable heads, over 62%, was obtained from transplants grown in pots with diameter of 44 mm independent of the date of sowing. The lowest share of marketable yield in total yield with the largest share of not fully grown heads was observed in cabbage grown from 3-weekly seedling in pots with diameter of 32 mm (55.69% and 8.24%, respectively). The least of not fully developed heads in total yield was recorded to the oldest 5-weekly seedling in pots with diameter of 55 mm. The results also shown that in the autumn cultivation was less of decay heads in comparison to the spring and their share in total yield did not exceed 1%. The largest percentage share of covered leaves in total yield (37.90%) was characterized by cabbage grown from 4-weekly seedlings in pots with diameter of 25 mm and the smallest share from 3-weekly seedlings in pots with diameter of 44 mm (31.78%). Dependence was evident that the share of covered leaves was increased with the decreasing of pots diameter and prolonging the production of seedling from 3 to 5 weeks. 100% 5-weekly seedlings 4-weekly seedlings 3-weekly seedlings 80% 60% 40% Share in total yield: leaves decay heads of cabbage not fully developed heads marketable heads 20% 0% Diameter of pots (mm) Fig. 3. The influence of seedlings age and pots size on the structure of total yield of Chinese cabbage in the autumn cultivation, means from CONCLUSIONS 1. The use of 4 and 5-weekly seedlings grown in pots with diameter of 55 mm assured to obtained the highest marketable yield of Chinese cabbage cultivated in the spring and autumn. 2. Shortening the period of transplants production and the use of smaller pots led to the decreasing of yield and reduction of the unit mass of head.

7 J. KRĘŻEL, E. KOŁOTA THE INFLUENCE OF SEEDLINGS Chinese cabbage produced in spring was characterized by higher share of marketable yield and decay heads but lower share of not fully developed heads and covered leaves in total yield in comparison to the autumn. REFERENCES Babik I [Effect of cell volume and fertigation on growth of vegetable transplants and plant yield in the field]. Zesz. Probl. Post. Nauk Rol. 485: [in Polish with English summary] Balvoll G Production of Chinese cabbage in Norway: Problems and possibilities. J. Veg. Crop Prod. 1(1): Biesiada A., Kołota E [The effect of method of transplant production on its quality and yielding of early kohlrabi (Brassica oleraceae L. var. gongylodes L.)]. Zesz. Nauk. AR we Wrocławiu. Rolnictwo 515: [in Polish with English summary] Kalisz A., Cebula S The effect of transplant production method on the yield and quality of some Chinese cabbage (Brassica pekinensis Rupr.) cultivars grown for autumn harvest. Folia Hort. 14/2: Kołota E., Adamczewska-Sowińska K [The effects of seed sowing date and size of pots on quality of transplants and yield of early leeks.] Annales, UMCS Lublin, sec. EEE Hortic. vol.8 suppl.: [in Polish with English summary] Krężel J., Kołota E Ocena plonowania wybranych odmian kapusty pekińskiej w uprawie wiosennej i jesiennej. Mat. Ogólnop. Konf. Nauk. Jakość warzyw i ziół na tle uwarunkowań uprawowych i pozbiorczych, Warszawa: [in Polish] Winiarska S., Kołota E [The effect of pot size and term of seed sowing on yielding of leafy type of parsley (Petroselinum sativum L. ssp. crispum) grown from transplants.] Zesz. Nauk. AR we Wrocławiu. Rolnictwo 515: [in Polish with English summary] WPŁYW WIEKU ROZSADY I WIELKOŚCI DONICZEK NA WZROST I PLONOWANIE KAPUSTY PEKIŃSKIEJ W UPRAWIE WIOSENNEJ I JESIENNEJ Streszczenie W latach w Stacji Badawczo-Dydaktycznej Katedry Ogrodnictwa Uniwersytetu Przyrodniczego we Wrocławiu przeprowadzono równolegle dwa doświadczenia dwuczynnikowe, założone metodą losowanych podbloków, w czterech powtórzeniach. Oceniano wpływ wieku rozsady (3,4,5-tygodniowej) oraz średnicy doniczek (25, 32, 44, 55 mm) na plonowanie kapusty pekińskiej odmiany Optiko uprawianej w okresie wiosennym i jesiennym. Najwyższy plon handlowy w okresie wiosennym i jesiennym, w warunkach zbioru wszystkich obiektów w tym samym terminie, dała kapusta pekińska uprawiana z rozsady 5-tygodniowej produkowana w doniczkach o średnicy 55 mm. Wykorzystanie młodszej rozsady z doniczek o mniejszych średnicach pogarszało plonowanie kapusty i wpływało na tworzenie mniejszych główek. Wiosenny termin uprawy w porównaniu do jesiennego pozwolił uzyskać wyższy plon handlowy kapusty pekińskiej o mniejszym udziale w plonie całkowitym główek niewyrośniętych, ale większym udziale główek chorych.