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Cut-and-Come-Again Practice on Some Leafy Vegetables - Dr. Sitesh Chandra Biswas Leafy vegetables are important constituent of fresh vegetables those can be grown with minimum investment and can also be cultivated easily as home garden vegetables or market garden vegetables. These nutritious vegetables are actually the source of minerals, vitamins, fibers and these plants have nutraceutical properties as well. By growing traditional leafy vegetable a grower can market his product more quickly than other types of vegetables. And since these vegetables can be harvested within 30-40 days and improved varieties have been introduced in the existing list which can be grown throughout the year these vegetables such as spinach, pechay, leaf mustard, kang kong coriander etc. can be easily accommodated in the existing cropping pattern which ultimately ensures the availability of these leafy vegetables round the year. Among these above-mentioned leafy vegetables kang kong is most favored by the small holders since it can be harvested sequentially by sowing seeds once and harvesting of fresh vegetables can be ensured regularly by adopting cut-and-come-again practice for a longer period (about 6-7 months). Late bolting spinach varieties can also be harvested several times (at least 3-4 harvests before bolting through cut-and-come-again practice). Recent observation also revealed the fact that leaf mustard as well as pechay leaves can also be harvested through cut-and-come-again practice if seeds of these vegetables are sown in early part of the growing season. It can be mentioned here that, now a day’s agriculture has become an expensive farming activities particularly due to higher price rate of input cost and increased labour wages. Therefore, following cut-and-come-again practice the increased production cost and time required for frequent consumption of vegetables through repeated growing of vegetables can be avoided to some extent. To verify the validity of cut-and-come-again practice in few leafy vegetables viz., improved type spinach, pechay, leaf mustard, kang kong and coriander ; each of these vegetable crops were evaluated separately at BRAC Agricultural Research and Development Centre (BARDC) . Spinach (Spinacia oleracia L.)

A BARDC developed advance line of spinach “Shyamoli” (bushy type) was used for the validity test of the cut-and-come-again practice. Fresh pure seeds of Shyamoli (bushy) were sown on 19.10.09 in an area of 0.66 decimal of land for cut-and-come-again practice. A control set was also maintained side by side. Within a few days seeds

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germinated normally and the seedlings were emerged satisfactorily. At the very early stage, seedlings were thinned out keeping the standard spacing between plants and the young plants were allowed to grow providing them with proper management practices. At 33 DAS nearly 4 Kg of fresh spinach was harvested by cutting spinach plants about 2 inches up from the ground level. After 1st harvesting of fresh spinach regrowth of the cut plants were ensured providing usual fertilization followed by irrigation. Second, third and fourth harvesting of fresh spinach were carried out at 50, 61 & 71 DAS respectively and the quantity of fresh spinach were recorded accordingly (Table.1). After each harvesting fertilization followed by irrigation was ensured to obtain regular fresh spinach from the plot. It can be mentioned here that bolting of spinach plants was started at 70 DAS. After 5th harvesting of fresh spinach from the nursery plot the crop was allowed to produce seed. Hopefully, the well-nourished side shoots from each of the plant produced huge flowers and good seed setting was also noticed in the newly developed branches of the cut plants. At the end of the season the matured seed crop was harvested along with the normal control plants as both type of plants (normal type and regrown plants after cutting) reached the maturity stage at the same date i.e. at 169 days after sowing. It can be mentioned here this technique can successfully be applied in red spinach (an advance line of spinach developed at having red coloured stem, petioles, veins and roots) as well.

Fig.1. Cut-and-come-again practice in Fig.2. Quality seeds produced from sprouted spinach. plants.

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Table. 1. Data related to fresh spinach harvesting and performance of the C & C ( Cut –and-come-again) technique.

Area (decimal)

Sowing date

No. of harves-ting of fresh spinach

Respective harves-ting date (DAS)

Quantity of fresh spinach at different harves-ting date (Kg)

Fresh vege-table/ deci-mal (Kg/ deci-mal)

Total quantity of leaves (Kg)

Days taken to bolting (DAS)

Remarks

Treatment 0.66 19.10.09 5.00 22.11.09 (33 DAS)

4.00

6.66 33.00 70.00 The same technique was also applied successfully in the off season grown advance line of Red spinach on limited scale.

09.12.09 (50 DAS)

8.00

13.33

20.12.09 (61 DAS)

10.00

16.66

01.01.10 (71 DAS)

8.00

13.33

18.01.10 (89 DAS)

3.00

5.00

Control

0.66 19.10.09 1.00 22.11.09 4.20 4.20 68.00

Table. 2. Plant characters of normal plants and plants developed from excised plants at seed harvesting period.

Type of the crop Plant height (cm)

No. of bran-ches/plant

1000-seed wt. (gm)

Seed yield (Kg/decimal)

Normal plant 185.00 (160-210)

5.90 (4-7)

26.33 (17.35-38.92)

12.00

*C & C Plants

94.50 (90-110)

8.50 (6-11)

23.14 (16.14-30.72)

8.33

% increased or decreased over normal plant

- 95.75 + 44.06 - 13.787 -44.05

*C & C plants (plants developed from excised plants).

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Pechay (Brassica rapa)

Another leafy vegetable pechay was also tested for cut-and- come- again practice in the same season. Fresh pechay seeds collected from the newly introduced Philippino pechay were sown on 17.11.09 in 4.40 m X 1.00 m beds. Since the growth of the pechay plants were relatively faster, within a few days the plants attained a height of 20-21 cm. and become suitable for 1st cutting at 30 DAS. Again the young pechay plants were cut at 2-3 inches up from the soil surface and a total of 3 Kg of leaves were used for consumption. After 1st harvesting the cut plants were provided with normal fertilization and irrigation. Responding to the proper cultural practice each of the cut plants started to produce new leaves and the plants were again found to be suitable for 2nd cutting at 44 DAS. However, to obtain information regarding seed production from the cut plants the plants were kept intact for seed production. Due to cutting, the plants were found to produce more branching and all the plants took the shape of bushy appearance. Flowering in the cut plants was found to be delayed by 4-5 days but good flowering as well as fruit setting was observed in the excised plants. Interestingly, good quality pechay seeds were also obtained from these cut plants at the end of the season.

Fig. 3. Pechay ready for Fig.4. Cut-and-come-again Fig.5.Intact (L) & sprouted leaf harvesting practice in pechay. pechay (R). Table 3. Performance of pechay following cut-and- come- again practice. Bed size (m)

Sowing date

No. of harv-esting

Harvesting date

Quantity of leaves harvested (Kg)

Days taken to bolting

Leaf dimensions after cutting (cm)

4.40 X 1 17.11.09 1 17.12.09 3.00 47.00 27.00 X 12.00

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Table 4. Comparative study of morphological characters of the normal and cut plants at the time of flowering. Status of the plant

Plant height (cm)

Plant spreading (cm)

No. of leaves/plant

Length of leaves (cm)

Width of leaves (cm)

Cut plants 31.83 (30-34)

28.17 (25-30)

7.33 (6-8)

30.06 (27.67- 32.33)

13.08 (11.33-16.17)

Control 25.67 (25 - 26)

26.33 (26-27)

12.00 (10-14)

24.67 (24-25.67)

11.34 (9.67-12.67)

Leaf mustard (Brassica juncea)

Another leafy type vegetable leaf mustard was also attempted for the study of the performance against cut-and-come-again practice. For this purpose, an exotic leaf mustard variety (recently introduced from Philippines) was used for this experiment and mustard seeds were sown on 17.11.09 in 4.10 m X 0.80 m beds. After the emergence of seedlings excess overcrowded seedlings were thinned categorically allowing the crop to grow with suitable spacing. Since it was a very good variety; excellent plant growth as well as development was noticed in all plants from the very early phase and good uniformity in the population was observed. At 37 days after sowing fine robust plants were noticed and young leaves of these plants were harvested by cutting the leaves 3-4 inches above from the soil surface and 2 Kg of leaves were harvested from 2 beds respectively. Appropriate nursing practices were provided to the cut plants and gradually all the plants became fit for 2nd harvesting of fresh leaves at 45 DAS. But as the seeds were sown in the later part of the season; to gather information relating to seed production from these cut plants, the crop was left intact for harvesting seeds from the branches developed from the cut plants.

Fig.6..Leaf mustard raised on bed. Fig.7. Cut-and-come-again practice in Leaf mustard.

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Table 5. Performance of leaf mustard following cut-and-come-again practice. Bed size (m)

Sowing date

No. of harvesting

Harvesting date

Quantity of leaves (Kg)

Days taken to bolting

4.10X 0.80 17.11.09 1 17.12.09 2.00 53.00

Table 6. Comparative study of morphological characters of the cut plants and normal plants at the time of flowering. Status of the cut plants

Plant height (cm)

Plant spreading (cm)

No. of leaves

Length of leaves (cm)

Width of leaves (cm)

Cut plants 41.83 (39-44)

31.17 (28-35)

6.83 (6-8)

34.94 (32.33-38.00)

16.64 (14.50-18.33)

Control 31.67 (30-33)

24.67 (21-28)

12.00 (12.00)

24.78 (24-26.38)

12.72 (12.33-13.50)

Kang kong (Ipomea aquatica Forsk.)

Kang kong is the most suitable leafy vegetable for practicing cut–and–come–again method. In an approach, healthy cuttings from matured plants of 2 varieties (Philippino kolmi & Gima kolmi) were collected from 1st week of November and planted categorically to raise the kang kong clones. After attaining suitable size, the practice of cut–and–come–again was followed up to several months (6-7 months) at the interval of 15 days. It was also found that the more the age of the plants, the more fresh vegetables could be harvested and as much as 500- 600 gms. of vegetables could be harvested from a single plant of 120 days old plants.

In a separate experiment kang kong was grown during the Kharif-2 season both for vegetable consumption and for seed production as well. Seeds of 2 improved kang kong varieties were sown in seed bed on 26.07.09 for raising seedlings to be transplanted in main plot for seed production. Since the seeds were very good quality, most of the seeds were germinated within a few days. As kang kong is characteristically a quick growing leafy vegetable; young plants attained the marketable size just within 25 days and fresh vegetables were harvested by cutting plants 1-2 inch above the soil surface. Within 10 days the resprouted branches attained the size for plantation and cuttings from these plants were planted in the main plot on 09.09.09. After plantation, plants of both varieties exhibited good vigour and excellent growth and development of the plants were noticed. Plants of Philppino kolmi and Gima kolmi came into flowering almost at the same development stage and extensive fruiting was recorded from the rejuvenated plant and sufficient amount of good quality seeds were harvested at the end of the season. Seed production performances of the 2 kang kong varieties after single fresh vegetable harvesting have been presented in the following table (Table.7).

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Table 7. Comparative studies on morphological & yield related characteristics of 2 kang kong varieties. Name of the varie-ties

Plant hei-ght (cm)

No. of bran-ches/ plant

Len-gth of inter-nodes (cm)

Len-gth of lea-ves (cm)

Width of lea -ves (cm)

Days taken to 1st flowe-ring

Total no. of fruits/ plant

No. of seeds/ plant

Fresh fruit wt./ fruit (cm)

Seed yield/ plant (gm)

Crop dura-tion

Gima-kolmi

152.40 12.20 6.70 11.16 6.57 37.00 285.00 604.00 1.30 24.93 131.00

Phili- ppino Kolmi

251.00 16.00 7.25 12.57 7.21 38.00 319.80 905.00 1.61 43.65 135.00

% increased or decreased

64.69 31.14 8.20 12.63 9.74 - 12.21 49.83 23.84 75.25 -

Fig.8. Kangkong raised on bed Fig.9. Cut-and-come-again practice in Kangkong clones.

Fig.10. A field of BARDC developed red stem kang kong (after 6th harvesting of fresh vegetables grown during the rainy season).

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In Bangladesh during the crisis period of vegetables i.e. in the monsoon season

cultivation of red stem kang kong (Improved type kang kong developed at BARDC through the hybridization between an introduced Philippino kang kong with the local type) was found to be very profitable as it resembles to the traditional type kang kong but its productivity is very much higher than the local type.

Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.)

Coriander leaves are used for salad dressing, in different types of curry, soup etc. for its excellent flavor and better taste. And this is why there is a very good demand of good quality fresh leaves of coriander in the vegetable market throughout the year. Now a day’s farmers are also growing coriander leaves commercially in Bangladesh to meet the growing demand of fresh coriander leaves. Off season coriander cultivation is very much profitable as huge profits can be ensured through the cultivation of coriander in the off season. The normal practice of coriander leaf cultivation is to uproot the whole plant and sell it to the market when it reaches at marketable size. But if the cut-and-come-again method is followed it has been observed that additional 2 to 3 times fresh leaves harvesting are possible from a single sowing. An experiment was laid out to test the validity of cut-and-come-again method on coriander leaves at BARDC result of which has been presented in the following table (Table.8). Table.8. Harvesting of coriander leaves through cut-and-come-again method.

Seeding Date

Name of the variety

1st cutting 2nd cutting 3rd cutting at DAS

Quantity (Kg/decimal)

at DAS

Quantity (Kg/decimal)

at DAS Quantity (Kg/decimal)

10.04.14 Green Leaf

36 2.77 71 5.50 79 6.55

Fig.11. A coriander plot. Fig.12. Young coriander plants suitable for cut-and-come-again practice.

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Fig.13. Uprooting the whole plant Fig.14. Coriander leaves. (normal practice).

Among the 5 leafy vegetables tried, kang kong was found to be very much suitable for cut–and–come–again practice followed by spinach, leaf mustard, pechay and coriander respectively. And the most interesting thing is that using this technique kang kong can be harvested from cloned materials too. Even though it appears that cut-and-come-again practice against these leafy vegetable viz, spinach, pechay, leaf mustard, coriander will not give full benefit to the commercial vegetable growers at this very moment but this technique will be tremendously effective for the homestead vegetable growers to collect vegetable sequentially at regular intervals for continuous fresh leafy vegetable consumption. Even after allowing few harvestings they will be able to collect seeds from these plants for growing next crop in the following season. But in kang kong it is a normal practice for fresh vegetable harvesting and steady supply of the vegetable is ensured for a longer period after sowing seeds at one time and this practice creates a very good source of income for the vegetable growers while considerable amount of good quality seeds can also be harvested from the rejuvenated plants after several cuttings.

Address: Dr. Sitesh Chandra Biswas Program Specialist (Vegetable Research) BRAC Agricultural Research & Development Centre (BARDC) Jogitola, BRRI, Joydebpur, Gazipur BANGLADESH Mobile Phone: +8801730349845 E-mail: sitesh.cb@brac.net

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