Effect of protected cultivation on the precocity, yield and fruit quality in loquat

The advantages of the high density and protected cultivation over open field were investigated in three loquat cultivars. Both of these methods are new and have not been previously studied in Turkey. The study was conducted with Gold Nugget, Hafif Cukurgobek, and Sayda cultivars, planted at high-density with planting spaces of 3 m x 3 m in May 1997. The experiments for cultivation were done in greenhouses where the side height was 2.5 m and the highest point was 4.0 m. Phenological variables such as first blossoming, full bloom, end of bloom and harvest time and pomological variables such as fruit and seed weight, fruit dimension, seed number/fruit, and acidity were determined. The trunk diameter, 10 cm above the bud union, was also recorded each year during the study. The total above ground tree canopy volume was calculated from height and width measurements. The productivity parameters including yield/plant, yield/hectare, cumulative production/plant, cumulative production/hectare and yield/unit trunk cross-sectional area and yield/unit of canopy volume were calculated. The results indicated that protected cultivation caused earliness of 13-20 days when compared to open field. The mean yield was higher in protected cultivation than the open field for both yield/tree and yield/ha. Conversely, the mean yield was higher in open field than protected cultivation for yield/unit trunk cross-sectional area and yield/unit of canopy volume of trees. Pomological quality of the fruits was higher in the open field than protected cultivation. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.