Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-1961

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Landscape Architecture

Major Professor

B.S. Pickett

Committee Members

H.D. Swingle, J.S. Alexander

Abstract

​​A report from The University of Tennessee Extension Service indicated 9,000 acres of okra was produced in Tennessee in 1960 (9). Most of this production was channeled into the processing plants. Varieties that have proven to be adapted to Tennessee conditions and also good for processing have been limited. Recently, Emerald and Gold Coast varieties were released and showed promise in some areas as being superior to Clemson Spineless, in some respects. In order to evaluate these new varieties for yield under Tennessee conditions as well as for processing characteristics, a variety trial was conducted in 1960 using Clemson Spineless, Emerald and Gold Coast.

Okra being an indeterminate plant (18) the lateral branches tend to be suppressed until the terminal buds are well advanced. This makes for s very low yield on the first several harvests since only one terminal branch on each plant fruits during this early period. Since pods must be harvested two or three times per week, this involves a great deal of hand labor with low yields each time.

With several flower plants (chrysanthemum, carnation, dahlia) a practice of removing the terminal growth when the plant is quite small is used to encourage axillary branching. These axillary branches develop at a fairly uniform rate, producing several flower buds on each plant at about the same time.

As a part of the variety trials, an experiment involving topping of the okra plants at various heights was initiated to determine the influence on yield by harvest periods. If several branches of each plant bore pods at the same time, this would reduce the labor required per bushel of okra harvested.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS