Agronomic behaviour of artichoke cultivars in se spain

The artichoke is a traditional crop of the Region of Murcia (SE Spain). The most commonly used cultivar is 'Blanca de Tudela', obtained by vegetative reproduction. The aim of this work was to compare the agronomic behaviour of ten European artichoke cultivars with vegetative reproduction. The stumps were transplanted into field at the experimental farm of Technical University of Cartagena at La Palma (Cartagena) on August 2007 in a randomized block design with 3 replications. The harvesting was conducted once a week and head weight and diameter were registered. The plants were also morphologically characterized in the second crop year, according to UPOV protocol for globe artichoke. In most of cultivars the second year yield was higher than in the first year. The highest total yield was obtained with the 'Blanca de Tudela' clones 'INIA B' and 'Clon 303', while 'Cabeza de Gato', 'Moretto' and 'Macau' obtained the lowest. The earliest artichoke cultivars were the 'Blanca de Tudela' clones, which began harvesting in early November, while 'Moretto', 'Macau' and 'Salambo' were the latest cultivars. According the UPGMA cluster analysis the artichoke cultivars could be classified into 4 groups. The two first component of PCA (whiteness and head shape) explained around 60% of artichoke morphological variability. © ISHS.