Effects of the growing season extension on Polish primocane-fruiting raspberry cultivars

Abstract

Three primocane-fruiting raspberry cvs, Polana, Polka and Polesie, were evaluated for their performance under various early spring coverings during the 2010-2013 growing seasons. Three cultivation techniques were compared: covering plants with perforated plastic cover, covering plants with fibre cover (in early spring, for a period of about 1 month), mowing of young canes in the middle of May; the control combination were plants without covers and not mown. During each growing season, plant growth vigour, yielding and fruit quality (soluble solids and vitamin C content) were assessed. The use of low covers (perforated plastic cover and fibre cover) advanced the fruit ripening of the tested cultivars by about 2 weeks. The covers of raspberry plants also increased significantly yield of the early fruit (harvested in July and August) compared with the control. The investigated techniques can be recommended for implementation and use on commercial raspberry plantations to force early fruiting and thus increase their production potential in the summer-autumn period.

Keywords

• rubus idaeus l.
• perforated plastic cover
• fibre cover
• shoot mowing
• yield
• fruit quality