YIELD AND QUALITY OF SEED PROPAGATED ARTICHOKE HYBRID CULTIVARS GROWN FOR FOUR YEARS

The vegetative propagated artichoke fields can be grown up to four - five cropping cycle, whereas the seed propagated cultivars are commonly grown for one year. Researches on new hybrids cultivars reported the high yield and good quality of buds; information on seed artichoke fields grown for several years are not available. The aim of this study was to evaluate the yield and the qualitative characteristics of buds in artichoke hybrids grown for four years cropping cycle. The trial was carried out in Policoro (southern Italy) on seven hybrid cultivars: Orlando, ‘N 4053’, ‘N 4055’ (selected by Nunhems), ‘INRA 9300’, ‘INRA 9334’ (selected by I.N.R.A, France), ‘H 386’, ‘H 374’. The seedlings were transplanted in the field in July; in comparison, the cv. ‘Violetto di Provenza’ (VP), largely grown for its earliness and high yield, was planted in the same date using rooted offshoots. In the first three years, seventeen harvests from October to May were made each year; whereas in the fourth year the harvests were eleven. Number, weight, width, length, and dry matter of primary and secondary buds were recorded at each harvest. Fibre content was measured two times during harvest season. In the first three cropping cycles, good yield were generally recorded for all cultivars, whereas in the last year of trial a remarkable decrease of production was observed. The mean of three years total yield ranged from 205.000 buds ha^-1, harvested on average for the cv. N 4053, ‘Orlando’, ‘VP’ and ‘N 4055’ to 172.000 buds ha^-1 for the cv. H 374 and ‘H 386’. In the fourth cropping cycle, a reduction of about 36.000 buds ha^-1 were recorded for the cv. N 4053, ‘Orlando’ and ‘VP’, whereas about 32.000 buds ha^-1 were less harvested for the cv. INRA 9300, ‘H 374’ and ‘H 386’. In all cultivars, the weight of the main heads harvested during the third and fourth year was 30% lower than the previous ones.