The yield and quality of broccoli grown under flat covers with soil mulching

Abstract

The experiment was carried out between 2010 and 2012. Effect of plants covering and the kind of organic mulch applied to soil mulching on the yield and selected component of nutritive value in Milady F1 broccoli cultivated for early harvest was investigated. The application of polypropylene fibre contributed to a significant increase in the marketable yield of broccoli on average by 5.25 t/ha, weight of head by 0.10 kg and length of arc by 1.44 cm. Increase of the content of chemical components as a result of plants covering amounted to 1.76% for dry matter, 2.50 mg/100 g fresh matter (FM) for ascorbic acid, 0.65% FM for total sugar and 0.15% FM for monosaccharides. All kinds of straw contributed to an increase in the broccoli yield and improvement its parameters. The highest marketable yield and weight of head was obtained in the plots mulched with buckwheat straw. Irrespective of covering, cultivation on the mulch with buckwheat straw contributed to a slight decrease in dry matter, total sugars content, whereas cultivation on the rye straw decreased ascorbic acid content.

Keywords

• polypropylene fibre
• organic mulch
• brassica oleracea l. var. italica plenck
• lycopersicon esculentum mill.
• chemical composition
• vegetable