Interactive Effects of Sowing Date and Planting Density on Dry Matter Accumulation and Partitioning of Chicory

Abstract

Chicory is considered one of the alternatives crops that can be used in crop rotation and contains many phytochemicals that can be used in medicine. In addition, lengthening the growing season by early sowing may increase root chicory yield potential, and thus increase its competitiveness with traditional crops. The objectives of the present study were to determine whether early sowing date risks can be decreased by higher sowing density and also to study the effect of sowing date and sowing density on dry matter accumulation and partitioning of chicory. Growing season did not affect any of the characteristics that were studied. Also plant density affected the flowers biomass, root biomass per plant and the respective yield together with the plant height and essence yield and total yield. The sowing date affected the leaf, flower and stem biomass on a plant basis. However, the interaction between plant density and sowing date affected the total biomass per plant, the flower biomass per plant, the root biomass per plant, the flower yield, the root yield and the essence yield. These results indicate that for higher production it is important to determine the right plant density and sowing date which can affect growth, dry matter accumulation and essence yield.