Productive Behaviour of Different Cultivars and Lines of Seed Propagated Artichoke in the Spanish Mediterranean Area

Abstract

The most interesting artichoke production period in the Spanish Mediterranean Coast is autumn-winter. Seeds of seven cultivars ('Imperial Star', 'Alberca', 'Harmony', 'Concerto', 'Madrigal', 'Opal' and 'Lorca') and five lines ('DS-1000', 'DS-2000', 'AR-1', 'AR-2' and 'AR-3') were sown in polystyrene trays on the 14th June 2005 and planted on the 1st August in south Valencia, Spain. 'Blanca de Tudela' and 'Violeta de Provenza', which are asexually propagated cultivars, were planted in the same date and used as controls. Three replicates of 10 plants per cultivar/line were arranged in a completely randomized design. All cultivars and lines were sprayed three times between 20th September and 20th October 2005 with gibberellic acid at 30 mg L-1. Harvest started in October for 'Blanca de Tudela' and among seed propagated cultivars/lines, 'Imperial Star' and 'Lorca' (beginning harvest in November) were the earliest, while 'Concerto' and 'Madrigal' (beginning harvest in February) were the latest. At the end of February 2006, 'Imperial Star' (0.72 kg m(-2) of market yield), 'Blanca de Tudela', 'Lorca' and 'DS-1000' (0.66 kg m(-2) for all three), were the most productive varieties. The highest total market yields (until the end of May 2006) were obtained in 'Madrigal' (2.28 kg m(-2)), 'Concerto' (1.86 kg m(-2)), 'AR-3' (1.77 kg m(-2)) and 'DS-1000' (1.69 kg m(-2)). Whereas the highest non-marketable yields were reached by 'AR-2' (1.05 kg m(-2)), 'AR-3' (0.84 kg m(-2)) and 'DS-2000' (0.78 kg m(-2)). Furthermore at the end of the experiment (end of May), there were not differences among cultivars/lines, for the variable head size (between 91 and 157 g), however some statistically differences during some controls made over the productive cycle were detected for this parameter.