Its cooked whole and served as a vegetable or side dish or salad. It’s a good sources of vitamins A, C, B1, B6, E and K, folate, manganese, dietary fibre, potassium, omega 3, fatty acids, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, copper and calcium.
Varieties
Covet garden, lunet F1, long Island, Jade Cross F1, Rubine and peer gynt
Ecological requirements
Altitude: over 1500
Rainfall: 500mm annually
Soils: well drained, fertile loam soils or sandy loams with ph 6.5
Temperature: coo-warm, does not produce good quality sprouts in extremely warm weather and flowers if exposed to temperature below 100C
Land preparation
Prepare field to a fine tilth removing all the weeds and stumps
Transplanting
Done for seedlings with at least four true leaves or 15cm high at a spacing of 45cm by 60cm by 80cm. Seed rate is 1kg per hectare.
Fertigation
Basal application gives best results. Apply 40g per plant DSP during planting, top dress with 20g per plant CAN when seedlings are 20cm high followed by 40g per plant CAN three weeks later
Irrigate the crop till the soil is moist, up to 50cm but avoid wetting the soil. With the light soils irrigate frequently but with less water for every application.
Weeding
Keep the field weed free during the growing period
Topping
Pinch off the growing points when almost fully grown and the sprouts have a diameter of 1.5 to 2cm.
Pest control
Diamond back moth: Use appropriate insecticide
Aphid: Use appropriate insecticide
Cut worms: Use appropriate insecticide
Disease control
Black rot: Controlled through crop rotation, planting resistant varieties, destroy infested plants
Black leg: Observe field sanitation, crop rotation, use healthy seeds
Ring spot: Observe field sanitation, crop rotation, use healthy seeds and use of suitable fungicide eg diathane
Dark leaf spot:Observe field sanitation, crop rotation, use healthy seeds and use of suitable fungicide eg copper based fungicides, copper oxychloride etc
Downy mildew: Crop rotation, field hygiene, spray fungicides eg score
Physiological disorder, buttoning- Development of small unmarketable heads while the plant is premature due to lack of nitrogen and plant stresses. Can be controlled by maintaining vegetative growth particularly for the first few weeks after field setting through proper fertilization program.
Harvesting
Done when sprouts are 2.5-3.8cm diameter, round, firm, tight and bright green in color. Yield should be roughly 20 tons per hectare. Should be stored at 40C with high humidity and good air circulation.