Yielding of Asparagus Depending on Harvest Ending Date

The field experiment focused on the determination of yielding of asparagus cv. ‘Thielim’ in relation to harvest duration: traditional (until June 20^th), shortened (June 10^th) and prolonged (30^th June) harvests. The variation in harvest ending dates did not have a significant influence on the total, marketable and non-marketable yields as well as on the crown weight and the number of storage roots. However, the extension of harvest time until June 30^th resulted in an increase in the number of spears in the total and marketable yields, accompanied by a decrease in their diameter. Also prolonging harvest affected negatively the summer stalk size. During harvest until June 10^th asparagus plants probably did not use their full yielding potential, because of too short harvest time. It resulted in increased height, weight, light absorption of summer stalks, leaf area index (LAI) and the total of cross-section areas of summer stalks (PP_PA) with no significant differences in yield.