Progress Report Series No. 98
Aciricultural Experiment Station
AUBUI
N - -- 2. Vt Sta.S i
RN UNIVERSITY
MAR P1972
Vegetable Variety 
Trials, 1
JACK L. TURNER'
VEGETABLE VARIETY TRIALS were conducted at the
Gulf Coast Substation, Fairhope; the Chilton 
Area
Horticulture Substation, Clanton; the North 
Ala-
bama Horticulture Substation, Culiman; the Sand
Mountain Sub-station, Crossville; aid the MainlSta-
tion at Auburn. All variety trials were conducted
in randomized replicated plots. Recommended ferti-
lizer rates and applications were applied to give the
best results at each location. Disease and insect 
con-
trol measures were applied on a regular schedule
throughout the growing season and irrigation was
applied as needed. Summaries of results from these
trials are reported in this publication.
RESULTS
Sweet Ce'rn. Trials were planted March 
23 and
April 6 and harvested once-over to simulate, ma-
chine harvesting. Although not significant, in
the first planting a large number of ears were re-
1Research Assoc., Department of Horticulture.
corded for Golden Security and Asgrow 299, 
Table
1. Calumet, Buttersweet, Gusto, 
and Sweet Tennes-
see produced the highest yields of 
marketable ears
in the second planting. Ear weight 
was generally
small for all varieties. Southern 
corn leaf blight did
not appear to be a problem 
on any of the varieties
in these trials. In Test No. 1, only a 
trace of the
disease appeared late, in the growing 
period on the
susceptible variety Seneca Chief, 
even though irriga-
tion was applied frequently to 
encourage the organ-
ism toi develop. In Test No. 2, 
5 varieties developed
a trace of the disease by harvest 
time. Apparently
the disease was not present in enough quantity 
to be
of any significance, this year.
Fresh Market Tomatoes. 
Varieties for the Gulf
Coast trial were seeded in flats 
February 72 3 inP"t h e
greenhouse: at Auburn and transplanted 
April 12.
Ten harvests, were made beginning 
June 10 and
ending July 15. Each plant was staked, 
pruned, and
spaced 15 inches in the. drill. 
Creole produced the
TABLE 1. SWEETCORN VARIETY TRIAL, FAIRHOPE, 
19711
Ears Mean
per weight
acre 
2  
per ear
Doz. Lb.
Ear
Color Kernel Ear Ear 
height
rows length' diameter above
ground
No. In. In.
Southern
Plant Growing corn leaf
height days blight
index'
In. No.
Silver Queen----
Golden Queen .-
64-2160 --------
Seneca Chief ---
Seneca 110------
Seneca Scout ---
Golden Security-
Asgrow 299--.--
Asgrow 1279----
Wintergreen ----
1,427a
1,371a
1,281a
1,276a
1,407a
1,255a
1,523a
I,492a
1,427a
1,457a
.57
.60
.55
.53
.49
.54
.55
.54
.52
.50
Test No. I
w 14
y 14
y 12
y 12-14
y 14
y 14-16
y 14-16
y 14-16
y 14-16
y 14-16
Test No. 2
7.75
8.12
11.19
11.38
12.50
12.00
12.00
11.94
11.94
11.38
1.75
2.00
2.13
1.87
1.97
2.06
2.00
2.13
1.95
1.97
28.0
28.5
14.0
13.25
20.00
18.25
20.50
23.25
24.25
19.25
86.75
87.50
62.75
63.75
65.25
74.00
82.00
79.75
79.25
70.00
Silverliner ------------------------------ 1,200bc .50 W 12 
7.83 2.00 27.0 75.00
Buttersweet ---------------------------- 1,553a .55 Y 
18 7.63 2.13 27.25 82.50
Sweet Tenn. 1,477a 
.57 Y 16-18 7.50 2.25 28.00 
84.25
Keyston Ev. Hy. 1,195bc 
.57 W 18 6.88 2.06 29.00 
87.50
Jochief--------------------------------- 1,2l0bc .52 Y 
16 6.00 2.00 21.25 71.75
Calumet- 1,558a 
.57 Y 14 7.75 1.81 26.25 
85.00
Asgrow 358 ---------------------------- 1,381ab .58 
Y 14 7.00 2.13 27.50 86.25
Gusto ---------------------------------- 13,538a .53 Y 
16 6.06 2.13 19.75 76.00
M 6128--------------------------------- 1,079c .64 
Y 14 6.88 2.19 31.50 83.75
M 5743 ---------------------------------- P19C .68 Y 
14 8.50 2.13 34.00 97.00
1 Soil test P - 90 (high); soil test K 80 (medium); pH- 5.8; 1 ton 
of limestone applied per acre.
'Means followed by the same letter do not differ significantly 
from each other at the 5% level.
All lengths with 4 digit numbers were measured with 
shuck on, all others were measured with the shuck 
off.
0- None; 5 dead plants.
88
88
85
85.
85
85
85
85
85
85
79
79
79
81
79
79
79
79
79
81
fi0sl0V50a1~t~s0I0nt0
Variety
February 1972
highest total marketable yield, Table 2. Tropic pro-
duced the highest yield of 5 x 6 size fruits. Traveler,
a new variety, produces a very firm excellent quality
pink skin tomato. Walter produced the lowest
yield of all the varieties.
TABLE 2. STAKEn AND PRUNED FRESH 
MARKET TOMATO TRIAL,
FAIRHOPE, 19711
Variety
C reole -- ----------------
T rop ic --- -- -- -- ---- -- -- -
M anapal ----------------
A U 6625------------- ---
T raveler-------------- ---
A U 106 --------------- --
Bonnie Nematode Resistant.
Sunburst ----------------
A U 115A ------------- ---
W alter --- ---- --------- -- -
Marketable yield per acre
Sizes
5x 6
Cwt.
122
196
152
108
79
114
99
52
109
58
6x 6
Cwt.
80
54
60
56
64
54
52
46
28
33
1Soil test P- 80 (medium); soil test K
5.8; 1 ton of limestone applied per acre.
6x7
Cwt.
104
31
61
80
85
52
66
104
26
Total
Cwt.
306
279
273
244
229
219
218
202
163
151
90 (high); pH
Sixteen varieties in the Cullman trial'wereseeded
in flats in the greenhouse at Auburn March 27 and
transplanted May 5. One half of the plants in each
plot were grown as staked tomatoes using the
bindertwine trellis method. The other half were
grown as ground tomatoes. All varieties were! spaced
15 inches in the drill. Liquid Nemagon was applied
for nematode control at the same time the land was
sub-soiled for planting. Diphenimid at 4 pounds per
acre was applied post plant for weed control. A
total of 12 harvests were, made beginning on July
3 and ending August 15.
All varieties produced higher marketable yields
from staked plots, Table 3. Chico Grande, a paste
TABLE 3. STAKED AND UNSTAKED FRESH MARKET TOMATO 
TRIAL.,
CULLMAN, 19711
Variety
Chico Grande--
Creole
Floradel ------
Walter
Bonnie
Nematode
Resistant
Sunburst ------
Terrific VEN ---
Tropic
Homestead 500
Homestead
E lite------ --
Supermarket ---
Tropi-Red -----
TAMU Monte
Crande------
Homestead 61 --
Homestead 24-.
Tropi-Gro -----
Staked
Marketable yield
per acre
Sizes
5z6
Cwt.
38
44
31
65
117
31
100
69
73
68
30
68
83
27
17
68
6zx6 6x 7
Cwt. Cwt.
48 332
138 170
127 143
129 130
128 75
127 143
138 55
133 71
118 75
108 84
89 121
79 71
95
91
78
74
36
93
105
49
Unstaked
Marketable yield
Total per acre Total
Sizes
5x6 6x6 6x7
Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt.
418 31 52 220 303
352 35 78 32 145
348 50 68 29 147
325, 44 83 44 172
320
300
293
274
266
100
20
68
37
38
261 48
241 16
218 45
214 71
212 29
201 15
190 27
69
106
50
43
55
56
58
43
60
52
48
29
34
80
24
17
24
28
50
30
15
39
30
14
1 Soil test P- 170 (high); soil test K= 100 (high.); pH
203
206
141
97
117
132
124
119
146
120
93
69
processing type tomato, produced the highest 
yield
of marketable fruit and produced 115 hundred-
weights more staked than unstaked. Creole pro-
duced the highest yield of marketable fruit of the
fresh market staked varieties. Floradel, 
Walter,
Bonnie Nematode Resistant, and Sunburst produced
over 300 hundredweights of marketable tomatoes
when staked. These same varieties produced 196,
153, 117, and 94 hundredweights less respectively
when grown as ground tomatoes. BonnieNematode
Resistant and Terrific VFN produced the.highest
yield of 5 x 6 fruits in the staked trial.
Fresh Market Cucumbers. 
Soil was fumigated
with 34 gallon of Nemagon on May 5. Varieties were
seeded with a Planet Jr. seeder May 18 and thinned
to single plants 6 inches apart in the drill 
2 weeks
later. Ten harvests were made beginning 
July 12
and ending August 10. Yields of marketable 
fruit
were! reduced this year by excessive rains and con-
siderable loss of fruits to, Pythium Rot. Early 
Sure-
crop and. Triumph produced the highest marketable
yields, Table 4. All varieties had good shape 
and
color.
TABLE 4. FR~sHi MARKET CUCUMBER TRIAL, CULLMAN, 19711
Variety Yield per acre
IC wt.
Fruit size
Lb.
Early Surecrop 174 .60
Triumph-- 174 .51
Palom ar----------------------- --- 158 .40
Marketer -1157 .43
Saticoy ------------------------ --- 154 .47
Poinsett 153 .43
Crackerlee 151 .42
Early M arketer -------------------- 147 .57
1 Soil test P 90 (medium); K - 90 (medium); pH - 5.6;
1 ton of limestone applied per acre.
Lima Beans. Seed were planted and spaced ap-
proximately 2 inches apart in the drill on April 
19
at Auburn and May 24 at Cullman. Varieties were
harvested once-over to simulate machine harvest.
Jackson Wonder, Allgreen, and Henderson Bush pro-
duced the highest in-pod yields at Cullman, Table
5. At Auburn, Fordhook 242 produced thei highest
in-pod yield. Fordhook, Fordhook 242., and Green
Fordhook 861 had the best green to dry pod ratio
at harvest. Henderson Bush had a higher per cent
of dry pods at harvest than is desirable.
Summer Squash. Seed were planted on May 20
at Cullman in soil fumigated with 1 gallon of Nema-
gon on May 5. Plots were thinned to 2 plants per
hill spaced 18 inches apart. Thirteen harvests were
made beginning on June 23 and ending July 30.
Zucchini Hybrid produced the highest yield of mark-
etable, fruit, 'Table 6. Of the yellow squash, Seneca
Butterbar produced the highest yield among the
straightneck type and Dixie produced the highest
yield of the crookueck type.
At Auburn seed were planted April 28 and thinned
to one plant 2 feet apart in the drill. Sixteen harvests
3
TABLE 5. LIMA BEAN VARIETY TRIAL, CULLMAN AND AUBURN 19711
Cullman Auburn
Variety
A llgreen ---------------
Fordhook --------------
Fordhook 242 ----------
Green Fordhook 861 ----
Henderson Bush --------
Jackson Wonder --------
T haxter ------------- ---
1Culiman: Soil test P
Auburn: Soil test P
Yied per acre
Shell- Growing 
Yield per acre
out days r., .- .,qb pr
Shell- Growing
out (lays
con(
III DryLL acue _J- IIV 0cnu __ -. l- Dr
Bu. Lb. Pet. No. Bu. Lb. Pct. No. Pct.
246 2,726 37 92 170 1,7 38 80 19
133 1,514 38 92 261 3,837 49 85 3
141 1,737 41 85 321 4,628 48 82 3
-------174 2,040 39 85 170 2,1443 48 85 6
-------215 2,712 42 81 187 2,978 53 80 46
-------266 3,27 41 81 210 3,659 58 80 18
-------136 1, 596 39 85 180 2,319 43 80 30
200 (high); soil test K- 120 (low); pH 5.6; 1 ton of limestone applied per acre.
300 (very high); soil test K- (80 Medium); pH 6.3.
were made beginning June 14 and ending July 23.
Results were similar to those at Cullman in that
Zucchini produced the highest total marketable
yield and Dixie produced the highest yield of the
crookueck type. Fruit size was smaller for both
size groups at Auburn.
Potatoes. Seed pieces were cut to 112 ounces each
and treated with a 712 per cent Captan dust. Seed
pieces were spaced 12 inches apart in 42-inch rows.
Varieties were planted March 24 and harvested
July 12.
Seven white skin and two red skin varieties were
evaluated, Table 7. Yields for all varieties were well
below what is generally considered an acceptable
yield. Weather conditions were difficult at times
with excessive rains and cold temperatures through
May. Red La Soda and La Chipper produced the
lowest marketable yields.
Eggplant. Seed were planted in flats in the green-
house at Auburn March 27 and transplanlted 30
inches apart in the drill May 12.
Treflan herbicide at 34 pound per acre was used
for weed control. A-total of 14 harvests were made
beginning June 29 and ending September 8. Peer-
less Hybrid produced the highest yield of No. 1
dition of pods at
harvest
Yellow Green
Pct. Pct.
19 62
17 80
9 88
2 92
24 30,
43 39
19 5:1
fruit, Table 8. Long Purple produced a low yield
and has a poor potential for Alabama.
Okra. Seed were planted on May 5 with a Planet
Jr. seeder into soil fumigated with 1 gallon 
of Nema-
gon on April 16 and treated with --/- pound per acre
of Treflan herbicide at planting. Plants were thinned
to 6 inches in the drill. A total of 29 harvests were
made beginning June 28 and ending September 10.
TABLE 7. POTATO VARIETY TRIAL,, CROSSVILLE, 
19711
Variety
White skin varieties
La Chipper--------
N orchip -----------
Penobscot--
Superior--
Frito Lay 96 ------
Frito Lay 282
(Seminole)-
Red skin varieties
La Rouge ---------
Red La Soda------
Yield per acre Eye Scab
No. 
1 No. 
2 No. 
3 depth
2
L1ing'
Cwt. Cwt. Cwt.
72.22 0.46 78.68
57.94 11.86 69.80
60.60 15.71 76.31
64.22 12.04 76.26
58.11 12.99 71.10
65.82 17.73 83.55
Hol- 
Black
hearther
rat- 
rat--
ing
2
ing'
s
s
m
s
s
m
80.23 18.09 69.32 5
68.20 14.47 82.67 M
49.75 11.10 60.85 D
1Soil test P- 160 (high); soil test K
5.2.
S- shallow; M- medium; D deep.
' 0) None; 5 severely affected.
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
90 (cedium); pH
TABLE 6. SUMMIER SQUASHTRIALS, CULLMAN ANDAUBURN, 1971'
Variety
D ixie--------- --
Early Prolific
Straightneck---
Early Summer
Crookneck-----
Goldbar Hybrid
Golden Summer
Crookneck ----
H yrific------- ---
Seneca Butterbar..
Seneca Prolific ---
X1 1019 --------
Yellow Summer
Crookneck ----
Zucchini Hybrid--
Cullman
Marketable yield
No. 1 No. 2 Total
Cwt. cwt. Cwt.
135 86 221
Fruit size
No. 1 No. 2
Lb. Lb.
.22 .41
Auburn
Marketable yield
No. 1 No. 2 Total
Cwt. Cwt. Cwt.
85 93 178
Fruit size
No.1I No. 2
Lb. Lb.
.16 .35
Color Type
yellow Crookneck
104 72 176 .28 .54 44 52 96 .18 .40 yellow Straightneck
58 56 114 .15 .30 61 52 113 .13 .28 yellow Crookneck
112 83 195 .30 .65 68 83 151 .20 .40 yellow Straightneck
62 48 110 .17 .32 49 48 97 .14 ..29 yellow Crookneck
96 64 160 .29 .61 69 71 140 .18 .38 yellow Crookneck
118 106 224 .35 .68 64 96 160 .21 .45 yellow Straightneck
138 72 210 .28 .51 50 41 91 .17 .34 yellow Straightueck
86 64 150 .17 .28 65 43 108 .13 .20 yellow Crookneck
70 44 114 .17 .30 65 66 131 .14 .30 yellow
370 92 462 1.39 1.77 90 136 226 .58 1.03 green!
gray
_________________spots
Crookneck
Straightneck
Cuilman: Soil test P
Auburn: Soil test P
130 (high); soil test K 90 (medium); pH 5.6; 1 ton of limestone applied per acre.
150 (very high); soil test K 60 (low); pH- 6.3.
TABLE 8. EGGPLANT VARIETY TRlIAL,, CULLMAN, 19711
Variety
Marketable,
yield per 
acre2
No.1I No. 2
Cwt. Cwt.
Peerless Hybrid-------------- - 434 63
Black Beauty------------------ - 362 63
Early Beauty Hybrid----- - 329 87
Jersey King Hybrid - 314 51
Florida Market------------ 298 45
Lonig Purple-------------- 86 74
1Soil test P= 170 (high); soil test K
5.7. 1 ton of limestone applied per acre.
2The difference in No. 1 and No. 2 fruits
pearance and shape of the fruit.
Average
f rnit size
No. 1 No.2
Lb. Lb.
.71 .63
.86 .84
.41 .39
.67 .66
.87 1.01
.60 .54
110 (high); PH
wvas primarily ap-
TABLE 9. OKRA VARIETY TRIAL, AUBURN, 1971F
Variety Yield per acre
Tons
Emerald Green Velvet 9.02----
Clem son Spineless-------------------------- -8.92
Emerald 8.-------31
Dwarf Green Long Pod 7.3 --------------------
Louisiana Green Velvet.------------------------- -7.84
Perkins-6.26
Perfected Perkins Long Pod ------------------ - 6.11
SSoil test P - 730 (extremely high); soil test K 90
(medium); pH 6.5.
Emerald Green Velvet produced the highest yield,
Table 9. Clemson Spineless and Emeraldproduced
good yields of well filled fruits. Very few pods were
found this year with poor seed filling.
Pickling Cucumbers. Seed were planted August
15 and thinned 10 days later to 6 inches in the drill.
A total of 7 hlarve-sts -were mcade beg11innin Septem-
ber 21 and ending October 11. Premier produced
the highest total yield of marketable fruit, Table, 10.
Marketable yields were reduced somewhat by
Pythium Rot for all varieties. Entries 14A x 38A and
14A x 36A are very promising and are expected to
be named soon. Explorer and Chipper are, excellent
pickle type cucumbers. Carpel separation was very
low in all varieties, and they all ranked good to
excellent in vine vigor and fruit shape. All varieties
had white spines.
Snopbeons. Seed were planted and spaced 2 inches
in the drill April 14 for the spring cropi and August
12 for the fall crop. A once over harvest was made
for each variety to simulate:machine picking when
50 per cent of the yield was thought to have a No.
4 sieve size. Falcon was the highest yielding variety
in both spring and fall trials, Table 11. Avalanche
did well in the spring but dropped to near the bot*
tom in the fall. Picker did not yield well in the
spring or fall. Sieve size distribution, based onthe
number of growing days, was good for most varieties.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Cooperation of the following personnel is acknowl-
edged: Harold Yates and J. E. Barrett, Jr., Gulf
Coast Substation; Frank Garrett, State Department
of Agriculture and Industries; C. C. Carlton and
Kenneth Short, Chilton Area Horticulture Substa-
tion; Marlin Hollingsworth, North Alabama Horti-
culture Substation; S. E. Gissendanner and John
Eason, Sand Mountain Substation; and Harrison
Bryce, Main Station at Auburn.
TABLE 11. SNAPBEAN VARIETY TRIAL, AUBURN 1971'
Falc
Ava
MaE
Grei
Eag
Rod
Vali
Astr
Pick~
Varety Yield 
Growing
Varet per acre days
Bu. No. Pet.
Spring
on- 311 56 14
lanche ----- 299 56 9
Dstro ------- 251 55 18
en Isle ----- 247 55 14
le,--------- 207 56 13
eo 192 55 19
ant-------- 178 56 10
ro------------ 168 55 13
cer--------- 157 56 10
2
Sieve Size
2
3 
z
't. Pct. P(
10
8
15
13
11
9
18
11
9
21
16
16
16
25
15
20
16
14
I.t.
55
54
35
57
43
47
47
44
59
5
Pct.
0
13
16
0
8
10
5
16
8
Fall
Falcon -------- 259 55 12 20 23 43 5
Maestro 224 54 5 11 24 45 15
Green Isle 178 54 11 14 19 47 9
Rodeo-- 173 54 10 17 34 31 8
Eagle --------- 152 54 16 23 24 32 5
Astro --------- 148 54 10 14 20 48 8
Valiant -------- 139 55 22 10 20 43 5
Avalanche ----- 132 51 11 13 27 48 1
Picker--------- 103 55 10 26 23 36 5
Spring: Soil test P 168 (high); soil test K- 85 (low);
pH' 5.8; 1 ton of limestone applied per acre.
Fall: Soil test P - 300 (very high); soil test K 80
(medium); pH 6.3.
2 Sieve size was determined from a 100-bean 
sample taken at
random from the four replications. Sieve denotes canning size
grade with size 1 having the smaller diameter and 5 having the
larger.
TABLE 10. FALL PICKLING CUCUMBER TRIAL,, AUBURN, 19711
ra rketable yieldperacreHarvest 
I Skin Fruit 
Spine Vine 
Carpel separation
5
VarietyGrds Total season 
color' shape color' vigor No.-8's No. 4's
No. No.2 No. No.4______________
cWt. Cwt. cWt. c. t. cWt. Pct. Put.
Premier- 15.75 69.26 116.38 26.14 227.5 Early LG Good Wh 
Excellent 0 0
14A x 38A ---------------------- 11.65 67.08 97.72 85.47 211.92 Early DC Good Wh 
Excellent 0 0
Explorer 14.16 65.31 89.08 87.97 206.52 Early G Good Wh 
Excellent 0 0
Chipper --------------- 11.29 58.26 100.59 25.92 196.06 Early C Good 
Wh Excellent 1 0
Dixie 23--------------- 12.09 47.05 102.70 28.97 190.81 Medium G Excellent Wh 
Excellent 0 0
14A x 36A------------- 11.72 49.61 90.86 82.85 184.54 Early G Good Wh Excellent 
0 0
Galaxy --------- ------- 10.45 58.99 82.22 25.61 177.27 Medium D G Good 
Wh Excellent 2 1
Soil test P 824 (very high); soil test K - 80 (medium); pH 6.5.
2No. 1 grade ranged up to 1 1 /16 inch in diameter; No. 2 grade ranged from 1 1 /16 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter; No. 3 grade 
ranged
from 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter; No. 4 grade ranged from 2 to 2 1/4 inches 
in diameter.
C green, LG light green, DC - dark green.
' Wh -white
' Campel separation was based on the per cent of fruits cut 
that had open or air spaces in the middle.
v
..