Growth and carbohydrate composition of winter white cabbage intended for long-term storage. I. Effects of late N-fertilization and time of harvest

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Abstract
Growth and carbohydrate composition of winter white cabbage cv. Hidena Fl at harvest were investigated over three years. Late nitrogen had no significant influence on yield, dry matter, hexoses or starch but lowered the sucrose content especially in the head leaves. The increase in fresh weight of trimmed cabbage ceased after mid-October whereas dry weight continued to increase over the whole harvest period. Hexoses made up 46% of the dry matter in head leaves against 20% in the cores; the corresponding figures for sucrose were 4.4% and 26% averaged over the harvest period. The changes in hexoses and sucrose over the harvest period differed between head leaves and core with a decreasing amount of hexoses in the core and an unchanged level of hexoses in the head leaves. Sucrose content almost doubled over the harvest period in both parts with a concomitant dry-matter increase, but in the cores the rise was restricted to a shorter period in the autumn. Starch decreased at the end of the harvest period but the low amount of starch present could not account for the rise in sucrose. The pattern of sucrose accumulation in the cabbage core differed between years indicating that the environment may influence the time course and the amount of sucrose accumulated.