To date, Jerusalem artichoke, due to its rich biochemical composition, is becoming increasingly popular for industrial use [1]. Some representatives of agricultural science perceive Jerusalem artichoke tubers as biologically valuable plant raw material, others consider it as a readymade functional food product [1, 2]. For representatives of agricultural production, the interest in cultivating this crop is determined by the most important criteria of economic efficiency: low cost, high yield, the possibility of versatile use of Jerusalem artichoke products [3, 4]. An obstacle to a wider and more eff ctive introduction of Jerusalem artichoke tubers into industrial production is the lack of agrotechnical knowledge of the culture. The most important factor in crop growing is the selection of the optimal planting and harvesting period.
The purpose of the research is to determine the optimal harvesting period for the Jerusalem artichoke herbage and tubers, which ensures maximum tuber yield.
Objectives:
1) determine the yield of tubers and its structure;
2) identify the size distribution of tubers.
The two-factor experiment was made in 2018 on the basis of the educational scientific and experimental fi eld of the Perm State Agro-Technological University based on the following design: factor A — the period of tuber harvesting: A1 — spring, A2 — autumn; factor B — the period of herbage removal: B1 — 10 days after the flowering phase, B2 — 20 days after the flowering phase, B3 — before tuber harvesting.
Replicated four times. The total area of the plot is 30 m2, the accounting area is 20 m2. The tubers were planted manually on October 10, 2018, to a depth of 5–6 cm using a 70x40 cm pattern. The studied variety is Skorospelka. Tubers were gathered in autumn on October 5, 2019, in spring on October 3, 2020, with a potato digger KTN-2B by plots. The soil is sod-weakly podzolic medium loamy. The experiment was based on the methodology of B. A. Dospekhov [5].