Effect of plant spacing and harvesting date on yield, quality and storability of green garlic [electronic resource]

Includes bibliographic reference

The present experiment was camed out during three seasons of 2014/2015, 2015/2016 and
2016/2017 at El-Kassasien Research Station, Ismalia Govemorate, Horticulture Research Institute, Egypt
to examine the effect of plant spacing (7.5, 10 or 12.5 cm within the row) and harvesting dates (1st
February, 15th February, 1st March or 15th March) on the vegetative growth, quality and yield of green
garlic plants (Allium sativum L.) cv. Balady grown under sandy soil conditions and also, to study the
effect of different types of packaging materials on the quality parameters of green garlic during storage at
0°C and 95% Relative Humidity (RH) for 20 days.
According to the field experiment, the results indicated that planting garlic cloves at 10 ~m between
plants significantly increased plant length, the number of leaves per plant, total chlorophyll reading, green
bulbs dry matter percentage, total yield and exportable yield of green garlic. While, plant spacing at 12.5
cm increased leaf area per plant, green bulb diameter, green neck diameter and green bulbs weight of
green garlic plants in 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 seasons. Harvesting green garlic plants on 15th March
recorded the highest values of vegetative growth, quality and yield of green garlic plants. Whereas, the
highest exportable green garlic yield was recorded with harvesting date on 1st March followed by
harvesting on 15th February. Generally, the interaction between plant spacing at 10 cm and harvesting
green garlic plants on 15th March was the most superior treatment for increasing the vegetative growth, green
bulbs dry matter percent and total yield. Meanwhile, the interaction between plant space at 12.5 cm and
harvesting green garlic plants on 15th March increased leaf area per plant, green bulb diameter, green neck
diameter and green bulbs weight. Whereas, the interaction between plant space at 10 cm and harvesting
green garlic plants on 1st March displayed the highest exportable green garlic yield followed by the same
plant space and harvesting on 15th February during the first and second seasons. Regarding storage
experiment, the results showed that, packing green garlic bulbs in polypropylene or polyethylene bags
reduced weight loss % to less than 1 % and displayed green garlic bulbs with fresh appearance and white
color for 20 days at 0°C and 95% RH in the 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 seasons of storage.

Summary in Arabic