Production trend and cropping system of asparagus in China
2017
Zhang, Y. (Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences (China)) | Araki, H.
Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) is a high value vegetable, rich in bioactive factors such as rutin, saponin, polysaccharide, and organic selenium. At present, China is the largest asparagus production country in the world. Due to the quick expansion in acreage over the last two decades, asparagus has become a huge industry in China. In the early 1990's, China was an asparagus exporter, especially can processing, and white asparagus was mainly grown in plantation areas. From the mid-90's, green asparagus production increased step by step because of the demand for fresh green eating and many kinds of processing products such as tea, juice, medicine, and powder. These changes led to increasing domestic usage of harvest spears and reduction of exports. To increase the asparagus yield and productivity, white asparagus cultivation was changed to green production mainly in the northern, cool region of China. On the other hand, the long-term production system called mother-fern cropping in plastics has been started mainly in the middle and southern part of China. Around three-month old seedlings were used for transplantation in plastic house. The method of transplantation and harvest basically depends on manual labor. Spray irrigation and drip irrigation system were performed for management of soil water. The hot temperature was controlled by covering the sunshade net in summer. The white asparagus production decreased because of the world economic crisis in 2008 and recovered after 2009. The most serious disease was called stem blight, which has been considered as one important limiting factor for sustainable development, especially in southern China. A national project was launched to breed a domestic cultivar with resistance to stem blight disease.
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