{"title":"Yields, Postharvest Storage, and Response to Pruning of Eggplant Cultivars Grown in High Tunnels in New Hampshire, USA","authors":"R. Sideman, Heather Bryant, Olivia Saunders","doi":"10.21273/horttech05404-24","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"We grew eight cultivars of eggplant (Solanum melongena) over 2 years in four experiments conducted in high tunnels located in Durham, NH; North Haverhill, NH; and Ossipee, NH, USA. The marketable yields of eggplant harvested over 14 to 15 weeks ranged from 925 to 3269 g per plant (2.5–8.8 kg⋅m–2), depending on year and cultivar. Significant differences in marketable yield among cultivars were observed in three of the four experiments, but trends were not consistent. Parthenocarpic cultivars developed for greenhouse production, including Angela, Annina, Aretussa, Jaylo, and Michal, did not produce significantly greater yields than the cultivars developed for field production (Nadia, Traviata, and White Star). In two experiments, using a subset of cultivars, we explored the effects of training plants to four leaders compared with the standard practice of no pruning. Pruning treatment did not impact significantly the number or weight of marketable fruit, or the percentage of cull fruit, and there was no cultivar-by-pruning treatment interaction. In three separate experiments in Durham NH, USA, weight loss, browning, and softness were evaluated after 2 weeks of storage in one of three conditions: within the ideal range of temperatures (average of 50–64 °F), too warm (63–73 °F), and too cool (38–49 °F). Overall, responses to conditions that were warmer or cooler than ideal were as predicted, and weight loss, softness, and browning were all minimized when fruit were stored at 50 or 60 °F. We did, however, see some differences among cultivars in susceptibility to common postharvest storage problems. In conclusion, we found that cultivar choice can be important for high-tunnel eggplant producers, especially if postharvest storage conditions are not ideal. We also found that pruning and parthenocarpy did not enhance marketable yields, allowing growers to reduce labor and seed costs without impacting yield or fruit quality negatively.","PeriodicalId":1,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of Chemical Research","volume":"30 12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Accounts of Chemical Research","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.21273/horttech05404-24","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
We grew eight cultivars of eggplant (Solanum melongena) over 2 years in four experiments conducted in high tunnels located in Durham, NH; North Haverhill, NH; and Ossipee, NH, USA. The marketable yields of eggplant harvested over 14 to 15 weeks ranged from 925 to 3269 g per plant (2.5–8.8 kg⋅m–2), depending on year and cultivar. Significant differences in marketable yield among cultivars were observed in three of the four experiments, but trends were not consistent. Parthenocarpic cultivars developed for greenhouse production, including Angela, Annina, Aretussa, Jaylo, and Michal, did not produce significantly greater yields than the cultivars developed for field production (Nadia, Traviata, and White Star). In two experiments, using a subset of cultivars, we explored the effects of training plants to four leaders compared with the standard practice of no pruning. Pruning treatment did not impact significantly the number or weight of marketable fruit, or the percentage of cull fruit, and there was no cultivar-by-pruning treatment interaction. In three separate experiments in Durham NH, USA, weight loss, browning, and softness were evaluated after 2 weeks of storage in one of three conditions: within the ideal range of temperatures (average of 50–64 °F), too warm (63–73 °F), and too cool (38–49 °F). Overall, responses to conditions that were warmer or cooler than ideal were as predicted, and weight loss, softness, and browning were all minimized when fruit were stored at 50 or 60 °F. We did, however, see some differences among cultivars in susceptibility to common postharvest storage problems. In conclusion, we found that cultivar choice can be important for high-tunnel eggplant producers, especially if postharvest storage conditions are not ideal. We also found that pruning and parthenocarpy did not enhance marketable yields, allowing growers to reduce labor and seed costs without impacting yield or fruit quality negatively.
期刊介绍:
Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance.
Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.