Baby corn (Zea mays L.) consists of unfertilized young ears harvested at silkemergence. The 2011 study was a culmination of four successive years of productionand evaluation of baby corn at Western Kentucky University (36.93 N, 86.47 W). Theobjective was to compare the effect of tassel removal on baby corn (BC) production onfour cultivars of corn, two field (‘N77P-3000GT’, ‘N68B-3000GT’) and two sweet(‘Silver Queen’, ‘Peaches N Cream’). Results indicated that tassel removal gavesignificant increases (P<0.01) of BC ears across harvests (H) and cultivars; however, the effect was not consistent over treatments. For harvests, the difference due to detasseling was significant (P<0.05) for H2 and H3, but not significant (P>0.05) for H1 or H4. For cultivars, numerical values were higher for detasseled than non-detasseled treatments in the first three harvests for each cultivar, but significant (P<0.05) only for ‘Peaches n’ Cream’. Quality of BC from both tassel treatments decreased in H3 and H4. Based upon the increased number of ears resulting from detasseling, additional labor costs would be more than covered. Baby corn has excellent potential as a niche crop for producers and consumers in Central Kentucky.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:WKU/oai:digitalcommons.wku.edu:theses-2159 |
| Date | 29 May 2012 |
| Creators | Ferguson, Christopher G. |
| Publisher | TopSCHOLAR® |
| Source Sets | Western Kentucky University Theses |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Masters Theses & Specialist Projects |
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