Effect of Defoliation on the Yield and Quality of Garlic

Garlic is primarily grown for its cloves used mostly as a food flavoring condiment. But many producers in northern Iran cultivated this crop for its leaves to prepare different local dishes. A study of defoliations (0, 1, 2, and 3 times) on garlic (Allium sativum L. `local variety`) during the plant grows was conducted to determine the effect of defoliation on the yield and quality of garlic. Results showed that there were no differences in response for yield reduction, cloves and cormlet by diameter, height, and weight, neck diameter, and dry matter when garlic was defoliated. Defoliation reduced the mean yields by 6, 5.5 and 4.5% in trials 2–4, respectively without significant differences. However Leaves dry matter and plant total weight were affected significantly by treatments. High leaves dry matter was obtained from two times defoliation before cold season (57.75%) and followed by control without any significant differences. Three times defoliation decreased significantly the Garlic total weight and couldn't affect the quality parameters