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Indian Journal of Hill Farming 23(2):1-5 2010 Available online at www.kiran.nic.in
1
Original Article
Effect of Transplanting Dates on Plant growth, Yield and Quality
Traits of Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.) Cultivars
B. K. Singh*, K. A. Pathak, K. A. Sarma and Manju Thapa
Abstract
A field experiment was under taken with an
objective to examine the effects of different
transplanting time on growth, yield and quality of
various cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata
L.) varieties and hybrids in mild-tropical climate of
Mizoram. All the parameters under study were
significantly affected by both cultivars and
transplanting dates. Maximum yield potential of
various cultivars was realised by transplanting of
cabbage seedlings on 1
st
December. The most
compact head was observed for INDAM-1299
followed by Golden Acre, NS-160, KGMR-1 and
lowest in Ryozeki. The head compactness is a very
important parameter, which is directly associated
with the transportability, marketability, shelf-life
and consumers’ preference. The cultivars KGMR-1
and Golden Acre (both bred by IARI Regional
Station, Katrain, Himachal Pradesh) showed better
head yield potential, while KGMR-1 and Ryozeki
produced higher plant biomass, which could be
used during summer and rainy seasons, especially
for leaf production.
Key words: Cabbage, cultivars, date of
transplanting, yield, Mizoram
Introduction
Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.),
known as zikhlum in Mizo dialect, is one of the
most popular and widely grown vegetables in
Mizoram for its head and tender non-wrapper
leaves, and has occupied first position in
production (3684 t) and second in area (236 ha)
with a productivity of 15.6 t/ ha (Singh et al. 2011).
The head and tender non-wrapper leaves are
usually cooked and used in curry, boil, meat and
soup. The old non-wrapper leaves are generally
used as pig feed. Besides, having good tonnage
capacity, it is a rich source of essential and sulphur
containing amino acids, minerals, β-carotene and
ascorbic acid. It has been reported to have anti-
carcinogenic properties (Singh et al. 2009).
_______________________________________
ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Mizoram Centre,
Kolasib-796081, Mizoram
1
Corresponding author, e-mail: bksinghkushinagar@gmail.com
It stands at the fourth position in production
among the vegetable crops in the world after
potato, tomato and watermelon (Anonymous
2011). There is a steady demand of cabbage
throughout the year due to its popularity in Mizo
cuisines. During off season (summer and rainy
seasons) from March-October when there is little
or no heading in cabbage, the whole plants are used
as leafy vegetable which is very popular among
Mizo community. Hence an experiment was under
taken with objective to examine the effects of
different transplanting time on growth, yield and
quality of various cabbage varieties and hybrids in
mild-tropical climate of Mizoram. 25.50 million
hectare. This region is one of the hotspot of
biodiversity for crop genetic resources and
neighbouring to the centre of origin for Brassica,
i.e. Indo- Chinese region. Therefore, an attempt
was made to collect and characterize the diversity
of rapeseed- mustard germplasm especially in parts
of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Assam states. Further,
an attempt was made to establish the relationship
with yield-related traits and to identify the
promising genotypes.
Materials and methods
The experiment was carried out at the Research
Farm, ICAR Research complex for NEH Region,
Mizoram Centre, Kolasib, Mizoram (24.12 ºN,
92.40 ºE and 650 m above sea level) during 2009-
2010. The soil type is an Alfisol and acidic (pH
5.8). The experiment was laid-out in split plot
design (SPD) with three replications. The
treatments comprised of five cultivars in the main-
plots and three dates of transplanting (13
th
November, 1
st
December and 18
th
December 2009)
in the sub-plots. The cultivars under study were
NS-160 (hybrid,), KGMR-1 (hybrid, bred by IARI
Regional Station Katrain, HP), Ryozeki (hybrid,
bred by Nunhems India Ltd., Hyderabad, Andhra
Pradesh), Golden Acre (variety, bred by IARI
Regional Station Katrain, HP) and INDAM-1299
(hybrid, bred by IAHS Co., Bengluru, Karnataka).
The uniform dose of FYM @ 6 t/ ha and lime @ 2
q/ ha was applied to the each plots at last tilling.
The NPK fertilizers @ 100:50:40 kg/ ha were
supplied by urea, single superphosphate (SSP) and
Indian Journal of Hill Farming 23(2):1-5 2010 Available online at www.kiran.nic.in
2
Original Article
muriate of potash (MOP), respectively. Twenty-
five days old seedlings, raised under net-house
having 4-5 true leaves, were transplanted at
spacing of 50×40 cm in the plot of 4×2.4 m size
accommodating forty-eight plants in each. The
horticultural parameters were recorded with respect
to number of non-wrapper leaves, weight of non-
wrapper leaves (kg), gross plant weight (kg), polar
length (cm), equatorial length (cm), net head
weight (kg), harvest index (%), head compactness
and yield (q/ ha) on 15 randomly chosen plants in
each treatment and replication. The head
compactness was determined as per Pearson
(1932). The data were subjected to analysis using
IRRISTAT software (Version 3/93, Biometrics
Unit, International Rice Research Institute, Manila,
Philippines.
Results and discussions
The partitioning of estimates of analysis of
variation (ANOVA) into main-plot (cultivar), sub-
plot (transplanting date), and interaction between
main-plot and sub-plot revealed that mean squares
due to cultivars were significant for all the traits,
except from head compactness, which are
indicating that various cultivars are affecting the
plant growth and productivity (Table 1). All the
traits were also significantly affected by date of
transplanting and showing the influence of
environments on growth and yield of cabbage. The
cultivars and their interaction with transplanting
dates showed a non-significant difference for all
the traits. The result corroborates the finding of
Gautam et al. (2006) for all the studied traits in
onion.
The leaf and plant growth (number & weight of
non-wrapper leaves, and gross plant weight) was
highest when the seedlings were transplanted on 1
st
December followed by 13
th
November and lowest
in 18
th
December transplanting for all the cultivars
which indicates that best suitable time for
transplanting of cabbage (Table 2). The gross plant
weight was highest for KGMR-1 followed by
Ryozeki, NS-160, INDAM-1299 and Golden Acre.
The cultivars KGMR-1 and Ryozeki did not differ
significantly for gross plant weight. Moreover, the
respective weight of non-wrapper leaves was
observed in Ryozeki followed by NS-160, KGMR-
1, Golden Acre and INDAM-1299. Therefore, the
cultivar Ryozeki is popular in Mizoram during
main as well as off seasons due to high biomass
production efficiency.
The 2
nd
date of transplanting (1
st
December)
was realized maximum polar length (length of
head), equatorial length (width of head) and net
head weight followed by 13
th
November and lowest
in 18
th
December for all the cultivars revealing that
maximum yield potential could be harnessed by
transplant the cabbage seedlings around 1
st
December (Table 3). Maximum net head was
weighed for KGMR-1 followed by Golden Acre,
NS-160, Ryozeki and lowest for INDAM-1299. It
is interesting to note that the equatorial length for
four cultivars, namely KGMR-1, Golden Acre,
Ryozeki and NS-160 were measured at par in all
three transplanting dates, hence the difference in
head weight is only manifested by head polar
length. The harvest index was computed maximum
in Golden Acre followed by NS-160, INDAM-
1299, KGMR-1 and minimum for Ryozeki, which
was also highest for transplanting on 1
st
December
followed by 18
th
December and 13
th
November.
Among 55 hybrids tested, Singh et al. (2009)
reported that none of the hybrids articulated better
harvest index over Golden Acre which is signifying
the reason of being one of the superior cultivars in
all over India. The head compactness, a quality
trait, is very important parameter which is directly
associated with the transportability, marketability,
shelf-life and consumers’ preference. The most
compact head was observed for INDAM-1299
followed by Golden Acre, NS-160, KGMR-1 and
lowest in Ryozeki, which was maximum for late
transplanting (18
th
December) followed by early
transplanting (13
th
November) and lowest in main
season transplanting (1
st
December).
The yield of cabbage was significantly affected
by both cultivars and transplanting dates. The
highest mean yield was harvested for the cultivar
KGMR-1 followed by Golden Acre, NS-160,
Ryozeki and lowest yield was recorded for
INDAM-1299 (Table 3). Similarly, the maximum
yield was realised on 1
st
December transplanting
date followed by 13
th
November and 18
th
December transplanting for all cultivars tested
under this study. The low yield in these
transplanting dates is only due to unfavourable
climatic conditions. Thus it is concluded that the
cultivars KGMR-1 and Golden Acre (both bred by
IARI Regional Station, Katrain, HP) have the
potential for better head yield, while KGMR-1 and
Ryozeki produced higher plant biomass which
could be use during summer and rainy seasons
especially for leaf production.
Acknowledgement
We would like to express our thank to the Director,
ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umroi
Road, Barapani, Meghalaya for his financial
support for the present research work.
Indian Journal of Hill Farming 23(2):1-5 2010 Available online at www.kiran.nic.in
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Original Article
References
Anonymous (2011). Vegetables and Melons
Outlook /VGS-346/August 25, 2011 Economic
Research Service, USDA
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/vgs/tables/w
orld.pdf
Gautam IP, Khatri B, Paudel GP (2006).
Evaluation of different varieties of onion and
their transplanting times for off season
production in mid hills of Nepal. Nepal
Agricultural Research Journal 7: 21-26
Pearson OH (1932). Breeding plants of cabbage
group. California Agriculture Experiment
Station Bulletin 532
Singh BK, Pathak KA, Boopathi T, Ramakrishna Y
and Kumar S (2011). Cabbage: package of
practices for cultivation in Mizoram. ICAR-
RC-NEH Region, Mizoram Centre, Kolasib,
Mizoram. Extension folder
Singh BK, Sharma SR, Singh B (2009). Heterosis
for antioxidants and horticultural traits in single
cross hybrids of cabbage (Brassica oleracea
var. capitata L). Indian Journal of Agricultural
Sciences 79: 703-708
Indian Journal of Hill Farming 23(2):1-5 2010 Available online at www.kiran.nic.in
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Original Article
Table 1: Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for leaf, head and yield parameters of cabbage
Source of
variation
d. f.
Number of
non-wrapper
leaf
Weight of
non-wrapper
leaf (kg)
Gross plant
weight
(kg)
Polar
length of
head
(cm)
Equatorial
length of head
(cm)
Net head
weight
(kg)
Harvest
index
(%)
Head
compactness
Yield
(q/ ha)
Replication
2
0.02
0.002
0.121
3.52
3.11
0.005
79.26
186.63
644
Main-plot (C)
4
22.77**
0.455**
0.576**
6.17**
5.89**
0.120*
560.44**
77.24
14740*
Error C
8
0.16
0.004
0.103
0.41
0.33
0.019
32.94
36.60
2257
Sub-plot (T)
2
1.44**
0.034**
0.806**
30.12**
29.97**
0.496**
73.91**
598.82**
60986**
C × T
8
0.05
0.001
0.008
0.08
0.07
0.001
6.53
5.66
164
Error T
20
0.04
0.001
0.008
0.19
0.24
0.001
5.52
13.64
129
C: cultivar, T: date of transplanting
Table 2: Effect of date of transplanting on leaf and plant growth of cabbage
Cultivar
Number of non-wrapper leaf
Weight of non-wrapper leaf (kg)
Gross plant weight (kg)
DOT-1
DOT-2
DOT-3
Mean
DOT-1
DOT-2
DOT-3
Mean
DOT-1
DOT-2
DOT-3
Mean
NS-160
13.40b
13.93b
13.20b
13.51b
0.617b
0.681b
0.583b
0.583b
1.670bc
1.953bc
1.514ab
1.713bc
KGMR-1
11.80c
12.30c
11.90c
12.00c
0.576b
0.616b
0.530b
0.574b
2.100a
2.279ab
1.897a
2.092a
Ryozeki
14.57a
15.33a
14.63a
14.84a
0.963a
1.054a
0.905a
0.974a
1.938ab
2.352a
1.783a
2.024ab
Golden Acre
10.53d
10.87d
10.57d
10.66d
0.455c
0.500c
0.426c
0.461c
1.506c
1.831c
1.324b
1.553c
INDAM-1299
12.23c
12.60c
11.90c
12.24c
0.395
0.428c
0.365c
0.396c
1.561bc
1.776c
1.376b
1.571c
Mean
12.51
13.01
12.44
0.601
0.656
0.562
1.755
2.038
1.579
Estimate
SEm±
LSD at P < 0.05
SEm±
LSD at P < 0.05
SEm±
LSD at P < 0.05
A
0.13
0.44
0.02
0.07
0.11
0.36
B
0.17
0.53
0.02
0.08
0.12
0.37
C
0.06
0.16
0.01
0.02
0.02
0.07
D
0.12
0.36
0.01
0.04
0.05
0.15
DOT-1: first transplanting on 13.11.2009 DOT-2: second transplanting on 01.12.2009 DOT-3: third transplanting on 18.12.2009
A: estimate between two main-plots (Cultivar) treatment means
B: estimate between two main-plots (Cultivar) treatment means at the at the same or different levels of sub-plot treatment (Date of transplanting)
C: estimate between two sub-plots (Date of transplanting) treatment means
D: estimate between two sub-plots (Date of transplanting) treatment means at the same level of main-plot treatment (Cultivar)
Indian Journal of Hill Farming 23(2):1-5 2010 Available online at www.kiran.nic.in
5
Original Article
Table 3: Effect of date of transplanting on head size and weight of cabbage
Cultivar
Polar length of head (cm)
Equatorial length of head (cm)
Net head weight (kg)
DOT-1
DOT-2
DOT-3
Mean
DOT-1
DOT-2
DOT-3
Mean
DOT-1
DOT-2
DOT-3
Mean
NS-160
14.0b
15.6b
12.8b
14.1b
14.3a
15.9a
12.8a
14.3a
1.033abc
1.257bc
0.942ab
1.077bc
KGMR-1
15.3a
16.9a
13.9a
15.4a
14.4a
15.9a
13.0a
14.5a
1.186a
1.461a
1.075a
1.240a
Ryozeki
13.6b
15.0bc
12.6bc
13.7bc
14.3a
15.8a
13.2a
14.4a
0.966bc
1.217bc
0.894b
1.026bc
Golden Acre
13.9b
15.4bc
12.3bc
13.9b
14.7a
15.8a
13.0a
14.5a
1.068ab
1.351ab
0.946ab
1.122ab
INDAM-1299
13.2b
14.5c
11.7c
13.1c
12.8b
13.9b
11.2b
12.6b
0.884c
1.118c
0.782b
0.928c
Mean
14.0
15.5
12.6
14.1
15.5
12.7
1.028
1.281
0.928
Estimate
SEm±
LSD at P < 0.05
SEm±
LSD at P < 0.05
SEm±
LSD at P < 0.05
A
0.21
0.69
0.19
0.62
0.05
0.15
B
0.30
0.92
0.30
0.92
0.05
0.16
C
0.11
0.33
0.13
0.37
0.01
0.03
D
0.25
0.74
0.29
0.84
0.02
0.06
Table 4: Effect of date of transplanting on harvest index, head compactness and yield of cabbage
Cultivar
Harvest index (%)
Head compactness
Yield (q/ ha)
DOT-1
DOT-2
DOT-3
Mean
DOT-1
DOT-2
DOT-3
Mean
DOT-1
DOT-2
DOT-3
Mean
NS-160
62.0b
64.4b
62.3b
62.9b
36.9a
32.4a
46.5ab
38.6ab
361abc
440bc
330ab
377bc
KGMR-1
57.0bc
64.1b
57.2bc
57.2b
36.1a
33.0a
44.5b
37.9ab
415a
511a
376a
434a
Ryozeki
50.2c
51.9c
50.4c
50.8c
35.7a
33.4a
42.6b
37.2b
338bc
426bc
313b
359bc
Golden Acre
71.6a
74.0a
72.1a
72.6a
36.4a
35.7a
46.5ab
39.5ab
374ab
473ab
331ab
392ab
INDAM-1299
56.7bc
63.0b
56.9bc
58.8b
40.8a
39.4a
53.5a
44.6a
310c
391c
274b
325c
Mean
59.5
63.5
59.8
37.2
34.8
46.7
360
448
325
Estimate
SEm±
LSD at P < 0.05
SEm±
LSD at P < 0.05
SEm±
LSD at P < 0.05
A
1.92
6.24
-
-
15.84
51.60
B
2.21
7.04
-
-
16.69
54.00
C
0.61
1.79
0.96
6.29
2.90
8.70
D
1.36
4.00
2.14
6.29
2.90
8.70
DOT-1: first transplanting on 13.11.2009 DOT-2: second transplanting on 01.12.2009 DOT-3: third transplanting on 18.12.2009
A: estimate between two main-plots (Cultivar) treatment means
B: estimate between two main-plots (Cultivar) treatment means at the at the same or different levels of sub-plot treatment (Date of transplanting)
C: estimate between two sub-plots (Date of transplanting) treatment means
D: estimate between two sub-plots (Date of transplanting) treatment means at the same level of main-plot treatment (Cultivar)
Indian Journal of Hill Farming 23(2):1-5 2010 Available online at www.kiran.nic.in
6
Original Article