New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science abstracts

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Study of asparagus production in Western Samoa

W. T. BUSSELL¹
M. J. BONIN²

School of Agriculture
University of the South Pacific
Private Bag
Apia, Western Samoa

¹Present address: Department of Landscape & Plant Science, UNITEC Institute of Technology, Private Bag 92 025, Auckland, New Zealand. email: wbussell@unitec.ac.nz

²Present address: P. O. Box 3039, Apia, Western Samoa.

Abstract  A tropical variant of the temperate asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) production system, thought to have advantages over the Taiwanese "mother fern" method in Western Samoa, was employed in this study. Spears were cut for 7-24 days in the first two harvests and for 30 days in later harvests. All harvesting periods were followed by a 4-month fern growing period. Accumulated yields were significantly (P < 0.05) higher from plants first harvested 11 months after transplanting than from plants first harvested 7 or 9 months after transplanting. Shorter harvesting periods early in the life of the crop did not improve accumulated yields. In plants first harvested 11 months after transplanting accumulated total yields to the end of the fourth harvest was over 5 t/ha. From the fifth harvest there was a low yield of 0.3 t/ha followed by poor fern growth. The trial was abandoned 1 month after the fifth harvest and plants still appeared free of fungal diseases and insect attack then. Possible causes of reduced longevity and ways of improving longevity in moist tropical conditions are discussed.

Keywords  Asparagus officinalis L.; moist humid tropics; harvest regime

H98057
Received 3 December 1998; accepted 10 February 1999

Short communication

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (421K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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