Belgium: Research into better opportunities for organic spinach cultivation

Published 2021년 2월 10일

Tridge summary

Researchers at UGent have found ways to efficiently grow organic frozen spinach, a crop that is in high demand but poses challenges due to difficult weed control and strict quality requirements. The research indicates that increasing the stand density and reducing the inter-row distance can significantly decrease weed biomass and increase spinach biomass. Additionally, post-emergence weeding and a false seedbed can also help reduce weeds. These findings are expected to provide maximum harvest security and reduce the chance of rejection by the industry. The research contributes to the European Green Deal, which aims to have organic farming on 25% of all agricultural land by 2030. The thesis received the Thesis Prize Organic and agro-ecological agriculture and food 2020.
Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

Growing organic frozen spinach is quite a challenge, how do you best approach that? Researchers at the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering (UGent) found more efficient methods that guarantee better chances of success for biospinach. The density and inter-row distance between the plants are of crucial importance. The consumption of organic products in Europe is on the rise. A popular vegetable that cannot meet that demand is organic spinach. This is mainly due to the difficult weed control in this fragile leafy vegetable sown at close row spacing and the strict quality requirements of the cultivated product. The cut product may not contain weeds as they affect the taste, odor, toxicity and stringiness of the end product. "It is therefore quite a challenge to grow spinach without excessive manual labor, especially in organic agriculture," says Prof. Benny De Cauwer. Due to the delicate weed control, organic spinach is not the most popular choice for Belgian organic growers, although ...
Source: AGF

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