Abstract. ‘Bresanne’ cv. of Swiss chard produced the highest marketable yield of leaf blades and petioles in the case of growing for autumn harvest. Generally, leaf blades of this vegetable species contained higher amounts of dry matter and Mg, while petioles accumulated more nitrates, K and Ca.

The evaluation of Swiss chard cultivars in autumn growing

Summary

In a field experiment conducted in 2004-2005 there was evaluated the suitability of Swiss chard cultivars for autumn harvest. The best yielding appeared to be ‘Bresanne’ cv., followed by ‘Green White Ribbed’ and ‘Green Silver’ cvs. The lowest tendency for nitrates accumulation in leaf blades was observed in ‘Green White Ribbed’ cv. (713 mg·kg^-1 f.m.), and in petioles in ‘Green Silver’ cv. (1875 mg·kg^-1 f.m.). Irrespective of the cultivar, the higher amounts of dry matter and Mg were found in leaf blades, while nitrates, K and Ca in petioles.