Introduction
The carrot (Daucus carota var. sativus) is part of the Apiaceae family. It is thought to have originated in the Middle East around the 10th century before being introduced into Asia and Europe in the 16th century where todays orange variety began its popularity. Carrots grow in a multitude of colours, from white, yellow, shades of pink and purple to black, though these varieties have had substantially less development and breeding effort resulting in less than favourable grower and consumer-valued qualities. The carrot was New Zealand’s third largest vegetable seed crop in 2012 with an export value of $17.8 million (Freshfacts, 2012) and is still a major production crop in the Canterbury Plains where production has become a convenient out-of-season location for European hybrid types.
Soil and seedling
It is important that the soil is in a healthy condition prior to sowing, it is recommended that there be an interval of three to five years between carrot crops in the same field. This reduces parasite population and ensures the soil is well balanced as different plant crops assimilate different proportions of minerals. Deep sandy loam that is free from stones and is adequately drained is ideal for growing carrots (Principles and Practices of Organic Carrot Seed Production, pp. 4). In a crop production system, well-tilled soil is created into raised rows, the carrot seeds are scattered and then lightly covered with a centimeter of soil.
The carrot seed can take up to 21 days to germinate and needs to be regularly and lightly irrigated during this time and the soil carefully kept weed free. The hydration spurs the dormant seed into activity, splitting the testa resulting in radicle emergence. Once the hypocotyl has b...
... middle of paper ...
...eas the seeds from the primary umbrel have a higher germination rate and vigour index (Heterogeneity of carrot seeds depending on their position on the mother plant, pp. 27). The seeds from the secondary umbel are also of high quality, superior in seed yield and morphological characteristics (Heterogeneity of carrot seeds depending on their position on the mother plant, pp. 27). It is therefore suggested to be beneficial to collect seeds from individual umbels as they ripen and to store the seeds in separate batches representing different crop qualities. The average seed yield is 500-600kg per hectare (Origin, area, production, varieties, package of practices for carrot). Environmental factors that may affect crop yields would be poor soil fertility, disease and plant damage, unbalanced soil saturation, inadequate pollination and high temperatures during florescent.
Salt content is one of the most important characteristics of soil and should be a primary concern when growing any plants (McCloskey). Wisconsin Fast Plants are rapid-cycling Brassica Rapa, member of the cabbage and mustard family. It’s an annual flowering plant that completes its lifecycle in approximately one month. Wisconsin Fast Plants are typically used in a field experiment however, because of their short life cycle, they are excellent of biology experiments.
For years farmers have been adding natural fertilizers to their crops. It is a big risk though. Over fertilizing is very dangerous. It puts high concentrations of salt into the soil. It can also affect the water resources nearby. Nitrogen, Phosphate, and Potassium are the basics of fertilizer. If a certain nutrient is short in supply the fertilizer might not work as well. Calcium, iron, manganese are also nutrients that might be needed. So don’t just trust the fertilizer bag that says it has all the nutrients, test it out. (Miller and Levine 717)
Brassica rapa, a variety of the mustard plant, was used for food as far back as the Roman Empire; however, it is difficult to distinguish where the plant originated, as it is spread across much of Eurasia (Guo, Chen, Li, Crowling 2014). This plant is used in many experiments due to its short life cycle, which hovers around six weeks, and is thus considered a ‘fast plant’. We are using Brassica rapa because of its relatively small size and short life
Old World crops such as wheat, barley, rice, and turnips had not traveled west across the Atlantic. Some of the New World crops that hav...
Six weeks previous to the conductance of this lab, Biology 108 section,planted wheat and mustard plants according to table#1 on page 3 of the Principles of Biology 108 Lab Manual . This table depicts all of the total pots and number and type of seeds planted in the pots. It accounts for the experiments of the intraspecific competition and interspecific competition. Replicates of each pot were planted to add precision and more acceptable statistics. Therefore, there were 40 pots, that is, 20 treatments conducted twice(Ciara, 1993).
Weeds are known to be a bad sign for farmers and gardeners alike. Weeds take all the nutrients from the intended crop and prevent the plant intended to grow from growing. This is a highly tedious and expensive task. For some mass produced crops such as corn, it is not cost-effective to remove weeds by physical means, so farmers will often spray large amounts of herbicides to kill weeds, which also is time-consuming and expensive. Sometime the herbicide is so strong that is ends up killing the plant as well. C...
Janick. J. (2011). Center for New Crops & Plant Products - Department of Horticulture and
Barley is a very important grain in the world today. It is very versatile in every way. It has been well adapted through its evolution. It has a very mysterious and much debated beginning. Now however, barely has become well known and so have its many uses. Barley, which is of the genus Hordeum, is a cereal that belongs to the grass family Poaceae. Barley has many different varieties. The most common is Hordeum vulgare, which is a six-rowed type of barley that has a spike notched on opposite sides with three spikelets on each notch. At each notch there is a flower or floret that later develops into a kernel. Hordeum distichum is a two-rowed type of barley that has central florets producing kernels and it has lateral florets that are sterile. Lastly there is Hordeum irregulare which has fertile central florets and different arrangements of sterile and fertile lateral florets. This is the least cultivated species of the three main forms (2).
The "Emperor's New Crops. " Easton and Goldfarb 171-181.
14. T.L. Thompson et al., “Subsurface Drip Irrigation and Fertigation of Broccoli,” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., vol. 66, pp 178-185, Jan, 2002.
Carrot is the main ingredient of a carrot cake and consists of large amounts of sugar like sugar beets. It was used during the medieval age as sweet ingredient in sweet cake. The carrot cake is a sweet gourmet cake prepared through the mixture of grated carrot and butter. The process of cooking results to soft carrot and the cake has dense and soft texture. The carrots themselves improve and add to the appearance,
Since the plant’s domestication the sunflower has been one of the most important crops in production that is native to North America, comparable to maize and wheat. The sunflower, what was once a plant utilized only in the Americas is now one of the most widely and diversely recognized used plant species in the world.
Wheat is grown around the world more than any other crop, and the production of wheat is second to corn. Even though the wheat technology has not been up to other crops’ research and development, wheat has still been a main contender of world production of grain(Spiegel, 2013). In the 1930 the US started a hybrid wheat program that made no progress in 30 years. But in 1962, the program started to make some progress by creating the first cytoplasmic male sterility. Cytoplasmic male sterility is the failure of plants to produce functional anthers, pollen, or male gametes. Then in 1973 the first Chemical Hybridization Agent was produced by Rohm and Haas, and American chemical firm. This agent creates a sterilized male plant, and the pollination from another plant makes it a hybrid. In 1981 hybrid wheat was first marketed in the United States and in Australia. In 1982 Monsanto launched a wheat program off of the Agent GENISIS. GENESIS is important because its the first effective wheat hybrid on the market. In 1993 the first commercial hybrids were introduced to the US and France. They were known as CROISOR and GENESIS which came out again in the commercial market. Even though the wheat hybrids were commercialized, they were not popular among the farmers of this age.
In conclusion, the world population is expected to grow by 100 million every year. Above ninety five percent of this population growth will come from the developing countries. This would put pressure on available resources for survival especially food in this regions. Potato production and consumption has increased in developing countries more than any other crop in the last fifty years. It is one of the most vital commodities in the world. It is grown commercially in 130 countries and about 320 million tons produced annually. It has since become a staple food for more than one billion of the world population. Potato will most likely play an increasing role in the world’s future food supply.
In seedless watermelons, rudimentary seed structures form but remain small, soft, white, tasteless and undeveloped tiny seed coats that are eaten virtually undetected along with the flesh of the melon. Seed production for these seedless types is an extremely labor intensive process that makes the seeds relatively expensive. Because germination of these types is often less vigorous than normal types, it is recommended that they be started in peat pots or other transplantable containers. Here the germinating conditions can be closely controlled. Once transplanted, cultivation is similar to that for regular watermelons.