Fibre flax yield, quality and production processes in Italy

摘要

Fibre flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is disappeared from the Italian crop systems, while the textile industry has reached a leading position. The reintroduction of the crop is than potentially promising but the crop techniques and the production processes have to be set up. In 12 environments: crop development and growth, cultivar response, straw, fibre and seed yields, and fibre quality were analysed in the 1992-98 period. The data pointed out crop cycles of 176 and 110 d for the autumn and the spring sowing time respectively, corresponding to 1125 and 990 deg C d cumulated growing degree. Straw yield at pulling was on average of 6.3 t ha~(-1), with relevant differences among years and environments. Early maturity cultivar yielded more in the lessfavourable sites. N fertilization was occasionally relevant, and a generally distributions of 60 kg N ha~(-1) was the more effective. In the Mediterranean environments, with the autumn, sowing flax was more productive and the yield steady. The long fibre ratio was often low (10-13 percent) and the quality uneven because of the insufficient cleanliness due to retting difficulties. Occasionally, the value of the fibre was affected by the insufficient stem length. In the less dense crop, the seed yield was on average 0.9 t ha~(-1). Such productions were similar to those assessed for the more dense crop. In conclusion: because of the complexity of the interactions among the crop growth, the yield, the retting process and the fibre quality flax reintroduction is doubtful. In the production processes retting seems to be the crucial phase.