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Annual Caraway Trials at CSIDCIntroductionCaraway is one of the more important essential oil crops suited for irrigated production. Caraway is generally a biennial crop. Recent advances in breeding have produced high yielding annual caraway that can be sown and harvested in the same growing season.Caraway seeds are used as a flavoring for baked goods, cheeses, and sauerkraut. An aromatic "essential" oil is extracted for use in liqueurs, meat products, perfumes, and mouthwash. The caraway seed contains an extractable vegetable oil fraction which may be blended with the essential oil for use as a flavoring agent.
The essential oil content of caraway seed is typically between 3 and 5%. The carvone and limonene content of the essential oil are important components of its flavor. A carvone content of 50 to 60% is preferred by processors. The Canada-Saskatchewan Irrigation Diversification Centre grew caraway in observational tests in 1988, and again in 1993. Research on irrigated spice crops was expanded in 1994 as part of a study performed by Dr. J. Wahab (CSIDC), Dr. F. Sosulski (Dept. Of Plant Sciences, U. of S.), and Dr. A. Slinkard (Crop Development Centre). A summary of on-going work on caraway in presented. Date of Seeding The effect of seeding date on yield and oil composition of caraway at CSIDC in 1995 is shown in Table 1. The May 12 seed date produced the highest seed, essential oil, and extractable oil yields. There was no effect of seeding date on composition of the oil. Depth of Seeding
It is generally recommended that caraway be sown no deeper than 2 cm. Caraway was sown at Outlook in 1995 at depths of 3, 4, 5, and 6 cm. No significant effect of seeding depth on essential and extractable oil yields, or on composition of the oil was observed. The effect on seed yield was not significant, but there was a trend to lower yield with increased depth of seeding (Table 2). Seeding Rate and Row SpacingA row spacing experiment in 1994 showed no differences in seed yield or seed size for 20 cm and 40 cm row spacings. The effect of seeding rate on seed yield was studied in 1994 and 1995. A seed rate of 40 seeds/m2 appears to be optimal (Table 3). Seeding rate had no significant effect on essential oil content, oil quality, or extractable oil content. (Table 4). Seeding practices which maximize seed yield will result in the highest yield of essential oil. IrrigationAn irrigation response trial was conducted in 1994. There was a progressive increase in yield with irrigation amounts up to 100 mm (Table 5).
* average of Karzo and Richters; ** average of Karzo, Richters, and Moran
Growing season rainfall = 132 mm |
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