Sustainable propagation of horseradish (Armoracia rusticana)

Abstract

Despite good agroecological conditions for its production and various possibilities of use in Serbia, horseradish is grown on relatively small areas. Due to good market prices and high yields that can be achieved by growing horseradish, a large number of farmers are interested in its production. Unfortunately they must manage production of horseradish planting material on their own. A field trial was set up on the sandy loam soil type at the experimental site in the village Polatna (Municipality of Žabari), during the two consecutive growing seasons (2019 and 2020) in order to determine the most efficient way of producing horseradish planting cuttings. Healthy plants were collected from the field where horseradish was grown in the previous period. After preliminary separation of first and second market class intended for selling, plants of approximately the same size appropriate for further reproduction were selected. Crown cuttings (upper part of roots – roots head) were cut off the remain roots and the cuttings were divided in three groups: a) crown cuttings (CC), b) whole root cuttings (WRC), and c) half root cuttings (HRC), i.e. the treatments in our study. The average number of cuttings per plant during the experiment was 2.29 and the average weight of cuttings was 21.98 g. The highest number of cuttings per plant was recorded in the treatment of CC in both years of research, while cuttings propagated by WRC and HRC had a higher average weight compared to cuttings propagated by CC. When the goal of cultivation is intensive multiplication of planting material in order to increase the production quantity of cuttings for planting, it is most efficient to use CC. In that case, a significantly smaller share of marketable yields are expected. The usage of WRC as a planting material provides producers with the highest yields and the highest share of first class roots in the total yield, yet with a sustainable amount of planting cuttings.

Uprkos dobrim agroekološkim uslovima za proizvodnju i različitim mogućnostima upotrebe, u Srbiji se ren gaji na relativno malim površinama. Zbog dobrih tržišnih cena i visokih prinosa koji se mogu postići gajenjem rena, veliki broj poljoprivrednika zainteresovan je za njegovu proizvodnju. Veliko je ograničenje to što sami moraju proizvesti sadni materijal. Poljski ogled je postavljen na peskovitoj ilovači na eksperimentalnoj lokaciji u selu Polatna (Opština Žabari), tokom dve uzastopne sezone (2019. i 2020. godine) kako bi se utvrdio najefikasniji način proizvodnje reznica za sadnju rena. Zdrave biljke sakupljane su sa polja na kojem se u prethodnom periodu gajio ren. Nakon preliminarnog razdvajanja prve i druge tržišne klase namenjene prodaji, odabrane su biljke približno iste veličine pogodne za dalje razmnožavanje. Matične kaleme (gornji deo korena - glava korena) odsečene su od preostalih korena a sav materijal podeljen je u tri grupe: a) vršne reznice (CC), b) cele korenove reznice (WRC) i c) manje korenove reznice (HRC). Ujedno su ovo bili i tretmani u toku izvođenja ogleda. Prosečan broj reznica po biljci tokom eksperimenta bio je 2,29, a prosečna masa reznica bila je 21,98 g. Najveći broj reznica po biljci zabeležen je pri upotrebi CC tokom obe godine istraživanja, dok su reznice koje su dobijene umnožavanjem WRC i HRC imale veću prosečnu masu u poređenju sa reznicama koje se razmnožene iz CC. Kada je cilj gajenja intenzivno umnožavanje sadnog materijala kako bi se povećala količina proizvedenih reznica za sadnju, najefikasnije je koristiti CC. U tom slučaju očekuje se znatno manji udeo tržišnog prinosa. Korišćenje WRC kao sadnog materijala pruža proizvođačima najviše prinose i najveći udeo prvoklasnog korena u ukupnom prinosu, ali uz održivu količinu reznica za sadnju.