Effect of Ratooning on the Yield of Hybrid and Open-Pollinated Cabbage Cultivars

Abstract

An experiment was done at Chiredzi Research Station, Zimbabwe, to establish the possibility of producing ratoon crops from four cabbage (Brassica oleraceae var capitata) cultivars: Sugarloaf (open-pollinated), Drumhead (open-pollinated), Goldern Acre (open-pollinated) and Exotic (F1 hybrid). There were significant differences in yield and head size between the cultivars in both the mother and ratoon crops. Exotic gave the highest yield in the mother crop (92.91 t/ha) while Drumhead produced the highest yield in the ratoon crop (35.94 t/ha). There were also differences in cultivar response to ratooning with relative head sizes for Drumhead, Golden Acre, Sugarloaf and Exotic being 79%, 74%, 46%, and 42% of the mother crop respectively.

UNISWA Research Journal of Agriculture, Science and Technology Vol. 4 (2) 2000: pp 199-201