THE EFFECT OF SELECTED CULTIVATION METHODS ON YIELD AND QUALITY OF ARTICHOKE (Cynara scolymus L.) RAW MATERIAL

Artichoke is known as a valuable vegetable (for its eaten buds), popular in the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, in the USA and South America, or medicine with documented hepatoprotective, choleretic, antioxidative, anticancerogenic, cholesterol-reducing and diuretic action. When it is cultivated for pharmaceutical purposes artichoke should be obtained from one-year-old plantations, characterized by high amount of active substances (CQA and flavonoids). The objective of three year field study was to evaluate the effects of different methods of plantation establishment: direct seed sowing, seedlings produced in multicells transplanting, seedlings with ‘bare roots’ from nursery beds transplanting as well as plant densities: 3.3 and 4.2 units·m-2 in artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) cv. Green Globe culture. Additionally, quality of raw material obtained in two following cuts (performed in August and October) was estimated. Generally, traditionalmethod of plantation establishment by direct seed sowing results in lower yields of worse quality of artichoke raw material (characterized by significantly lower active substances content), while, seedlings produced previously in multicell trays in plastic tunnel transplantation could be indicated as better method of artichoke plantation establishment for pharmaceutical purposes. A decrease of artichoke yields and dimensions but at the same time tendency to significant improve its quality (on an average two times higher content of flavonoids and CQA in comparison to direct seed sowing) was noted when seedlings transplantation from plastic tunnel (with ‘bare roots’) was used as method of plantation establishment. Increasing plant density of 3.3 to 4.2 units·m-2 caused a decrease of size and weight (by 13,4%) of individual plant leaves, and at the same time an increase of their numbers, and total yields harvested from the unit area (by 0.2 t·ha-1). Moreover,during the second cut significantly higher (by 27%) yields of better quality artichoke leaves (characterized by higher flawonoid and caffeoylquinic acids content) were obtained.