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AGRICULTURAE
CONSPECTUS SCIENTIFICUS
Volume 63, Supplement No 4, 1998 (307-313)
ORIGINAL
SCIENTIFIC PAPER
Influence
of the Growing Method on Yield Components
of Yard-long Bean (Vigna sesquipedalis (L.) Verdc.)
D. BAN
J. BOROŠIĆ
B. NOVAK
SUMMARY
As
the yard-long bean was a vegetable unknown to Croatia, the objects of
the research for its production in the field and unheated greenhouses
were the following: a cultivar with an earlier start and longer harvesting
duration, optimum plant density, the kind and height of support, influence
of lateral shoots pruning on harvest dynamics, man-hours for harvesting,
possibility of storing in refrigerator and in selling outlets. Depending
on the cultivar and growing method, the yield of pods ranged from 0.93
to 2.84 kg/m 2 in unheated plastichouse, with the harvesting time of 59
to 80 days, and 0.70 to 1.77 kg/m 2 in the field, with the harvesting
time of 55 to 69 days. Depending on the cultivar and the place of growing,
a 27% to 55% pod yield was obtained in the first three harvest weeks.
Most harvested pods (35-46%) were in the length category of 30 to 40 cm.
Pruning of lateral shoots was not justified - it showed a yield decrease
of 15% to 35%. Increase of the height support from 1.6 to 2.0 m doubled
the pod yield. There was no significant difference in pod yield when either
a plastic net or plastic cord winding, wound around each individual plant,
was used as support. Depending on the place and method of growing, the
harvesting of one kilogram of pods took 13 to 24 minutes. At higher air
temperatures pods are of a low keeping quality. After only three days
of storage in paper bags at room temperature (20 to 25°C), the loss of
water amounted to 15-19%, and to 7-13% in the refrigerator (8 to 10°C).
KEY WORDS
yard-long
bean (Vigna sesquipedalis (L.) Verdc.), cultivar, pruning of lateral
shoots, plant support, harvest man-hours required, storage, yield
Vegetable Crops
Department
Faculty of Agriculture University of Zagreb
Svetošimunska cesta 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Received: November 18, 1998
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