The Influence of Foliage Habit on Competition Between Carrot Plants

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Abstract
Carrot plants of a cultivated variety (cv. Chantenay Red Cored) and those of a wild type were grown in both pure and mixed populations in which root competition was prevented. During early growth, cultivated plants competed effectively against the wild plants. Fifty days after sowing chitted seed, the mean weight of the storage organs of the cultivated variety grown in mixed populations was 56 per cent greater than the mean weight of cultivated storage organs in a pure population. Subsequently, however, this competitive advantage diminished, this being associated with the development of tall flowering stems by the wild plants. The foliage habit of the vegetative cultivated plants was more erect than that of the vegetative wild plants. This difference in foliage habit might explain why the cultivated plants out-compete the wild plants.

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