Articles
VEGETATIVE GROWTH AND SPEAR YIELD OF EXOTIC ASPARAGUS CULTIVARS GROWN IN UGANDA
A total of fourteen cultivars: six from the United States, four from the Netherlands, and four from France were tested.
Two month old seedlings were transplanted in field plots in November 1993. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with three replications.
Vegetative growth data on stand count, fern height, number of ferns per plant, and fern dry weight were collected after one year.
The spears were harvested for a period of 10 weeks after 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 years growth.
At this time, data on the number of spears and spear weight per plant, average spear diameter, and the percentage of spears with closed heads were collected.
Spear yields on an area basis were estimated.
There were significant variations among cultivars for vegetative and yield characteristics. ‘Jersey Giant’ had the highest survival rate and ‘Gijnlim’ produced most ferns per plant. ‘Atlas’ and ‘Apollo’ had the maximum fern height and fern dry weight, respectively. ‘Gijnlim’ ranked first in the production of number and weight of spears per plant. ‘Atlas’ produced spears with largest diameter and highest percentage of closed heads.
Most of the spear yield was confined to the first seven weeks of the harvest.
The peak yields were obtained during the second and the sixth weeks.
Yield declined significantly with each successive harvest period.
The results of this study suggested that asparagus yield levels required for commercial production are achievable in Uganda.
However, development of cultural practices suited for indigenous soil and climate conditions and solution to the problem of rapid yield decline were essential if asparagus production was to become a long term enterprise.