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Growth and development characteristics of molokhia (Corchorus olitorius L.), a subtropical leafy vegetable.

2009; Korean Society for Horticultural Science; Volume: 27; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

2465-8588

Jeung-Sul Han, Eunha Yoo,

Ecology and Conservation Studies

Here we firstly report on the growth and development characteristics of molokhia (Corchorus olitorius L.) in Korea, which is a subtropical vegetable that reportedly contains rich minerals and biologically functional substances. Three molokhia accessions introduced from Japan and the Philippines were cultivated in different cropping seasons. The spring-sown (20 April) seedlings showed a vigorous growth during hot season, and their final heights mounted up to 3.3 m when measured in the end of cultivation (20 October). Both spring- and summer-sown (20 June) molokhia plants produced the marketable tender shoots while the growth of autumn-sown (20 August) ones was suppressed owing to low temperature. Meanwhile, the first flowering arose from springand summer-sown plants on 19 May and 23 October, respectively, which confirms that molokhia is a short day plant species with daylength-sensitivity variation depending on genotypes. Our results indicate that the early transition from vegetative stage to reproductive stage has contrary aspects regarding the economic production of vegetable and seed: unfavorable to vegetable yield but crucial for seed production. The viable seeds were harvested from the summer-sown plants in the amount of 10 g per plant. We believe that the present study might contribute to domestic production of molokhia as a leafy vegetable with seeds in Korea, a temperate zone.