MSc

The present study entitled ‘Standardization of planting time for off-season cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata) production in rain shelter’ was undertaken in the Department of Olericulture, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara during May-October 2013. The objective of the study was to standardize planting time for off-season cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata) production in rain shelter.
The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with four replications. The cabbage hybrid NS 43 of Namdhari Seeds Pvt. Ltd. was used for the study. The treatments comprised six planting dates namely May 15th, May 30th, June 15th, June 30th, July 15th and July 30th. The crop was raised inside two rain shelters each of 100 m2 floor area. Observations on quantitative and qualitative characters of cabbage were recorded during the course of study.
Head formation was noticed in all dates of planting eventhough rainy season is an off-season for cabbage. There was no significant difference between planting dates with respect to plant spread, number of non wrapping leaves, stalk length, core length, head index and total number of marketable heads.
The lowest number of wrapping leaves was observed for May 30th (3.9) planting which was on par with May 15th (4.0) planting. May 30th planting took the minimum number of days to reach 50% head formation (47.50 days) which was on par with May 15th (48 days) planting. The minimum number of days to reach 50% head maturity was observed for May 30th (63.75 days) planting which was on par with May 15th (68 days) and July 30th (67 days) planting.
The highest net head weight was observed in May 15th (818.75 g) planting whereas the lowest was recorded in June 15th (486.25 g) planting. May 15th planting recorded the maximum value for head characters like head length (13.55 cm) and head breadth (15.73 cm). The highest harvest index was also observed in May 15th (60.79) planting while the lowest harvest index was observed in June 15th (53.05). The yield/plot was highest for May 15th (11.78 kg) planting.
Moisture content was found minimum for June 15th (93.41 %) planting. The head shape of cabbage was round in all the planting dates. With regard to head compactness, all the heads were observed to be loose. The major pest observed during all the planting dates was tobacco caterpillar (Spodoptera litura F.). Incidence of soft rot (Erwinia carotovora) was noticed in all dates of planting. A physiological disorder called internal tip burn reported to be caused due to calcium deficiency was noticed in heads in all planting dates. The lowest pest and disease incidence was observed for May 15th planting. Considering the yield and lower pest and disease incidence, May 15th planting was found ideal for off-season cultivation of cabbage inside rain shelter.