The effect of foundation method and harvesting time on the yield of lovage (Levisticum officinale Koch.)
2004
Andruszczak, S.,Akademia Rolnicza, Lublin (Poland). Katedra Roslin Przemyslowych i Leczniczych
The field experiment was carried out in Zamosc (Poland) on the brown soil of loess origin in years 2002-03. In the experiment the following methods of foundation a plantation were compared: 1) direct sowing in the field (control), 2) direct sowing in the field with cover of polypropylene sheet, 3) by seedlings from plastic house and 4) seedlings produced in multi-cell propagation trays (multiplates). There were two dates of leaf cutting: in August and before root harvest (beginning of October). The plot size was 20 cubic m (100 plants per plot) in four replications. Sowing in the plastic house was performed in mid March period (seedlings were transplanted to the field at beginning of May). In the middle of April seeds were sown in the field at the same spacing i.e. 50 x 40 cm. During the harvest the weight of lovage leaves and roots were recorded. Essential oil content was determined in the samples of leaves and roots (method of steam distillation using the Deryng apparatus). It was found that the higher yields were obtained when plants were propagated from transplants than from direct sowing in the field (leaf and root yield increased by 49.5 and 68.9 percent, respectively). Lovage grown from transplants and harvested twice during the vegetative period produced a significantly higher leaf yield than plants harvested once (at the end of the growing season). Leaf cutting in the summer (August), however caused a significant decrease of root yield (by 42.4 percent in relation to plants with no leaf harvest). Leaving the aboveground parts of lovage until autumn positively affected not only the root yield but also the essential oil content (from 0.56 to 0.88 percent). On mean, essential oil content was higher when plants were grown from seeds, but taking into account the oil yield per area unit, the most profitable was growing lovage from seedlings
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