The effects of seed position, harvest date and drying conditions on seed yield and subsequent performance of cabbage

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Abstract
Cabbage cv Myatt’s Offenham was grown by the seed-to-seed method in 1980/81, 1981/82 and 1982/83 to determine the effects of several husbandry factors on yield and subsequent performance of the seeds. Maximum seed yields of 1.0–1.2 t ha−1 were obtained from plants cut and windrowed c. 80 days after 50% had produced open flowers on the terminal axis and when the seed moisture content was about 50%. However, seeds having the most uniform, rapid and highest percentage germination and emergence were obtained from plants cut 2–3 weeks later than this, at a seed moisture content of 30%. Except in 1982, the yield losses incurred by delaying the harvest for this period were small. Moisture losses from seeds in the field after windrowing were usually 2.0–2.5% per day. In 1983 moisture losses reached 4–5% per day under hot, dry conditions and this reduced seed viability. Rapid artificial drying (28°C, 60% RH), in which the rate of moisture loss was 10% per day, reduced viability and increased the leakage of ions compared with freshly harvested, naturally dried seeds, especially if the seed moisture content at harvest was more than 50%. At early (71 and 76 days after flowering) but not later (99 and 109 days) harvests, seed viability decreased for seeds taken from branches successively further from the apex of the plant, but mean weight per seed was not affected.