Outcome of Participatory Screening of Broccoli Varieties for Organic Systems in Western North Carolina

Identifying appropriate varieties for organic production in the mountains of western North Carolina is considered a research priority by local growers. Broccoli has traditionally been bred for and grown in Southern California and over 95% of all US broccoli is still grown there. There are 131 local broccoli growers listed in Local Food Guide of the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, and the vast majority (78%) are listed as certified organic or organic but not certified (2013). One of the main challenges in growing broccoli in the Southeast is that varieties are not heat tolerant. We received a grant from the Organic Farming Research Foundation to conduct a participatory screening of broccoli varieties for organic systems in western North Carolina.

A spring meeting was held with local growers to determine which varieties would be included, for what markets, and how the varieties would be evaluated. The growers chose 27 heading type and unusual (romenesco, rapini, and sprouting types) varieties. The trial was grown organically at the Mountain Research Station on the newly established Mountain Organic Research and Extension Unit. Each plot was evaluated by the researchers for sixteen traits determined by the growers and researchers at the spring meeting. In addition, 50 growers used consensus in small groups to rate the plots for quality during a summer workshop. An additional on-farm demonstration with twelve hybrid heading-type broccoli varieties was conducted at an organic farm in the Virginia piedmont.

These results are considered preliminary since it is only from one season. In addition this was a very high stress season. 

Packman is the commonly relied upon variety among organic growers in western North Carolina, so that was used as the control. The Oregon State University (OSU) West Coast and East Coast participatory populations and Arcadia performed the best on head color, with deep blue color. None of the varieties had a very domed head, as all were rated below at or below a low dome. Bay Meadows, Gypsy, and Belstar all performed in the top 5 of both bead uniformity and head smoothness, indicating they are the most heat tolerant out of the varieties studied. 

Workshop participants rated the OSU East Coast Population as their favorite. Scientists rated Bay Meadows as the best quality. In general growers rated the varieties as more marketable than scientists did. In taste tests, Belstar, Batavia, Bay Meadows, and the OSU West Coast participatory population all were more likely to be purchased than Packman. Green Goliath yielded the greatest. Despite having close to the lowest yield, the OSU East Coast participatory population had the most side-shoots. 

The average of the ranks across all traits showed that Bay Meadows, Batavia, Belstar, the OSU West Coast participatory population and the OSU East Coast participatory population outranked Packman, in that order. Out of the unusual varieties, the Tipoff Romenesco, Atlantis, and Purple Peacock appeared to be the best performing varieties. On the on-farm demonstration, over all the traits measured, Fiesta came out as the top ranked variety, followed by Blue Wind, Gypsy and then Packman, however these results are from unreplicated data. 

Based on this one year of preliminary data, for every trait measured, several varieties outperformed Packman. Under these kinds of conditions, a grower in Western North Carolina could improve head yield, side-shoot yield, marketable quality, flavor, and other characteristics by using varieties like Bay Meadows, Batavia, Belstar, and the OSU West and East Coast participatory populations.  There is a need to continue these studies for more than one year to have reliable data.