Processing yield of the carrot cultivar Esplanada as affected by harvest time and planting density

Cenourete® is a minimally processed carrot root similar to the American product known as 'baby-carrot'. This product is obtained through peeling and abrasion of cylindrical carrot root segments. The cultivar Esplanada is well suited for the production of Cenourete® due to its characteristics of long length and cylindrical root shape as well as uniform dark orange root colour. For Cenourete® production, the root should be less than 25 mm in diameter. However, it is well known that root size is influenced by planting density and harvest time. Therefore, the adjustment of the cultural practices would be necessary to increase root yield aimed for Cenourete® processing. The recovery of Cenourete® from 'Esplanada' was studied under two between-line spacings: 20 cm (5 transversal lines/m) and 12.5 cm (8 transversal lines/m). Roots were harvested at 80, 90, 100 and 110 days after sowing. Cenourete® yield ranged from 2.39 ± 0.37 to 10.75 ± 1.07 t/ha depending on the combination of harvesting date and between-line spacing. These values corresponded, respectively, to a percent Cenourete® yield recovery of 3.3 ± 0.7%-28.6 ± 2.8% in relation to the total root production. It was concluded that higher yield is obtained with 12.5 cm between-line spacing than with 20 cm between-line spacing and with earlier harvest (80-90 days) than with late harvest (100-110 days).