Caraway 275
effective for chemical weed control (Pruszynski, 1995). Weed control is a very important
factor mainly during the early developing stages before the plants cover the field at
early spring (March). The growing season of biennial caraway is much longer, therefore
a wide range of weed control is needed for a longer time. The two most common
herbicides used for weed control are afalon (linuron) and prometryne, mainly used
after sowing before emergence (Putievsky, 1978), but can also be used before sowing
(Pank et al., 1984).
It is important to maintain adequate soil moisture to get high seed yield. Depending
upon the soil type and climate, the crop requires three to four irrigations. In biennial
types, a first irrigation should be given when bolting starts and is followed by irrigation
at flowering and seed formation, the most important stages for realizing a higher seed
yield. In semi-arid regions where the annual caraway grows, two critical stages when
irrigation is necessary are during the early period of growth from germination to
establishment and seed formation. In Egypt, when rainfall is not sufficient, the farmers
make use of the flooding system to irrigate the crop, while in Israel a sprinkler
irrigation system is used for this purpose.
The caraway crop is affected by several diseases and insect pests but insects pose
comparatively less of a problem than do the diseases. The aphid (Hyadaphis corianderi)
is frequently recorded in caraway from the Middle East to India and is damaging in
growing seasons. The most commonly recorded diseases are caused by Fusarium
spp., Verticillium spp., Sclerotinia spp., especially S. sclerotiorum, which has a very
wide host and geographical range and Phomopsis spp., especially Phomopsis diachenii
and Ramularia spp. in Europe. A major disease of spring caraway in the Netherlands
is the soil-borne Sclerotinia stem rot, which can be effectively controlled by following
crop rotation. The Anthracnose due to Mycocentrospora acerina occurs widely in
Europe. Suitable disease management as recommended for each disease and pests in
various countries can be followed accordingly.
15.2.6 Harvesting and yield
The fruits of caraway, being highly susceptible to shattering, necessitate harvesting
of crop at the appropriate time. In Europe, caraway is harvested in the period from
late June to mid-July for biennial types. Depending on region and cultivar, biennial
types are harvested from July to September. The annual crop is ready for harvest in
March–April after 4–5 months. However, in temperate areas the plant flowers only
after over-wintering and thus crop is harvested in July after a crop duration of about
15 months. The crop is harvested when the oldest seeds start turning brown. Harvesting
is done by sickle on small farms or by mowing machine, as is done on large farms in
Holland. Caraway yield widely fluctuates from 1–3 t/ha for biennial types and 0.7–
1 t/ha from annual type. In mixed cultivation with cover crops, the yields obtained
may be 15–30% lower (Muller, 1990). In field tests carried out over several years in
Vienna, Austria, by Bailer et al., (2001) on four annual and seven biennial caraway
varieties, yielded 900 kg/ha in biennial caraway, and 1250 kg/ha in annual caraway.
The yield of caraway fruits grown in experimental fields ranged from 984–2673 kg
ha-1, depending on fertilizer content, cultivation area and cultivar under Lithuanian
agro-climatic conditions (Venskutonis et al., 1999).
15.2.7 Post-harvest handling
The seed crop of caraway is collected after harvest and should be left in swaths or