During 1985/86, a garlic field eperiment was carried out at La Platina Experimental Station (INIA, Santiago). Treatments included four planting systems: 1, 2, 3, and 4 plant rows per furrow and three planting distances on the rows as subtreatments: 5, 10, and 15 cm. The 12 possible combinations of these two factors, gave a pupulation density of 133,000 to 1.33 million pl/ha. Four and one half cm diameter bulbs of the cv. Rosado-INIA were selected to obtain the seed-cloves, which were planted on June 14th. The harvest took place on December 17th and the results were referred to export quality bulbs ( > 3.7 cm) and local market bulbs (2.7 - 3.7 cm). The results showed strong interactions between both factors for export bulbs as well as for the local market product. In fact, high densities produced high total yield, while its effects on export bulb fraction was variable and dependant on the level of each factor. The same interaction was observed when the individual bulb caliber was considered. On the individual bulb caliber basis, the best combination of both factors was: 1 row/15 cm (133,00 pl/ha). However, an economical criterion must be added to determine the optimum equilibrium between caliber of individual bulbs, export yield per hectare and economic return. |
ChileanJAR
