Effect of artificial vernalization on the production of Tunisian globe artichoke derived from nursery's ovoli: earliness, yield and quality traits

摘要

In Tunisia, earliness in globe artichoke production is one of the most important! criteria that the farmer is looking for. In fact, it is mainly related to the export period of Tunisian artichoke heads that can cover by its gains a big part of the production costs.! Different techniques were applied on globe artichoke cultivations to accelerate the early production such as the foliar spraying of plant growth regulators and vernalization. This work aims to investigate the effect of artificial vernalization under; defined photoperiodic conditions on earliness, yield and quality of globe artichoke! (Violet d'Hyeres') derived from nursery's ovoli. The experiment was conducted over! two years. Before field transplanting, nursery's ovoli were subjected todifferent treatments as follows; TO (control plants without cold treatment), Tl (nursery's ovoli' kept at a temperature of 5°C for 2 weeks in the dark), T2 (nursery's ovoli kept at a1 temperature of 5°C for 2 weeks with a photoperiod of 14 h of light), T3 (nursery's ovoli kept at a temperature of 5°C for 3 weeks in the dark), T4 (nursery's ovoli kept at a temperature of 5°C for 3 weeks with a photoperiod of 14 h of light). Results have shown] that the cold treatment doubled the rate of early production of globe artichoke plants with a maximum of 17% from the total production in treatment T3 compared to the control plants that was around 8% from the total yield. For the two years, T3 plants produced the best total yield (24.91 ha1), which is 32,24,and 16% higher than TO, T2, and T4, respectively. Mineral composition of artichoke heads was influenced by treatments and varied according to the harvest period and almost minerals decreased] by the time of harvests within the same treatment.