STUDY OF SOME HEADED CHINESE CABBAGE VARIETIES AND HYBRIDS GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN AUTUMN OPEN FIELD CULTURE IN TRANSYLVANIAN TABLELAND SPECIFIC CONDITIONS

Chinese cabbage is a leafy vegetable often cultivated in Asia, but which has also become more and more known in Romania due to its high nutritional value. The main purpose of this experiment was to study the behavior of some Chinese cabbage varieties in the Transylvanian Tableland specific conditions in an autumn open field culture, being known that there is no adequate cultivation technology for this vegetable for this region, vegetable producers having difficulties in special because of the bolting and inappropriate cultivar choose. To achieve the objectives of this experiment a collection of 5 varieties and hybrids was organized. During growing season observations were made regarding plants growth and development, at harvest on the yield quality and quantity, a high importance being given to the number of bolted plants. Plants head weight varied between 0.77 kg and 0.99 kg, while the cabbage heads had weights between 0.57 kg and 0.86 kg. At harvest only one hybrid presented a minimum bolting percentage, while to another one the percentage passed 40%. The yields obtained within this experiment varied between 45.3 and 67.2 t/ha. The success of the Chinese cabbage crop is in direct relationship with choosing a good hybrid, which is bolting resistant and can give a high yield.