Teelt en veredeling van bloemkool

A major problem in cauliflower is the occurence of buttoned plants in which vegetative growth was checked shortly after planting out. This results in too early formation of small curds of poor quality ('premature heading').<p>It was found that this could be prevented by transplanting small plants. All factors favouring growth of the young plants in the seed-bed promoted buttoning.</p><p>Spring crops should be sown late in the autumn and planted out early, whilst early quick-growing varieties should be sown later than late varieties. Plants should be kept cool and dry.</p><p>Young plants for summer crops should be grown at rather high densities in the seed-bed. Through severe competition plants thus remained small and therefore less prone to buttoning after transplanting. Experiments on breeding showed that cauliflower could be inbred for several generations without any deleterious effect. Seed-setting after selfing was normal and the crop therefore should be considered as self-fertilizing. This was confirmed by field experiments.</p><p>For selection after July plants must be propagated vegetatively. A method of obtaining cuttings from shoots developing on the stem base and roots was described.</p><p>Male-sterile plants were found at a rate of 0.05 %. It was determined by a single recessive factor.</p><p>Earliness was positively correlated with leaf number (r 0.9017).</p><p>Firmness of the curd was related to its structure and was determined by recessive genes. Plants with poor curds yielded more seed than plants with firm curds.</p>