BIENNIAL MANAGEMENT IN A SEXUAL PROPAGATED ARTICHOKE CULTIVAR

One of the advantages of sexual propagation in artichoke is its inclusion as an annual culture in crop rotation. However, maintaining the production for at least two years, in order to reduce implantation costs, would be an attractive alternative too. The objective of this contribution was to evaluate the effect of a biennial management on the productive characters of a seed propagated cultivar 'Imperial Star'. Along 2004 and 2005, seeds were sowed in pods and transplanted monthly in a randomized complete block design with three repetitions of 20 plants. The following characters were considered: Number of heads per ha (NH), Mean weight of the heads (WH, g), Total yield (TY, t ha-1), Days to first harvest (DH) and Harvest period (HP). Each sowing date treatment was harvested along two seasons. An ANOVA and Waller-Duncan multiple comparison test were applied. For WH, DH and HP the interaction year of implantation and harvest season was highly significant (F= 26.00, 313.11 and 75.15; p0.001, respectively). For NH all the sowing dates in 2005 were superior to those of 2004, yielding 66 300 heads per ha. The heads were heavier in 2005 (WH = 149.5 g) than in 2004, and TY increased of 1.43 t ha-1. Besides, in 2005 days to first harvest was 11 days earlier, and HP was 17 days longer than in 2004 plantation. With respect to harvest seasons, all productive characters presented increased values along the second year in comparison with the first year. For TY the second season harvest was 13.69 t ha-1, that is an out yielding of 163% for the first season harvest; NH was duplicated up to 86 370 heads per ha and, WH was also increased. Precocity (DH) was increased to 34 days, and HP extended to 24 days in the second season. Since plants in the second harvest season showed an increased vegetative growth, precocity, harvest period and total yield, so the biennial management would be recommended.