Chapter 6: Common Vegetables for Seed and Fruit

CHICORY
Cichorium intybus L., family Compositae
Chicory, also known as succory, is cultivated to a limited degree as a salad or potherb, or its taproot is roasted, ground, and used as a coffee substitute or admixture (Purseglove 1968*). It is also grown in some countries for alcohol distillation from the roots. (Davidovich and Davydova 1947).

Plant:
Chicory is a stout, deep-rooted perennial, 3 to 6 feet tall. It is a practically leafless herb, branching and diffuse when in bloom. The seeds are planted in the spring, and the roots are dug in the fall, stored, and replanted toward spring for foliage harvest (Jones and Rosa 1928*). The plant is most noticeable in the mornings when its azure-blue flowers are open.

Inflorescence:
The composite 1 1/2 inch flower opens early in the morning (5:30 to 7:30 a.m.) and closes about noon (Dinakaran and Sundaraj 1960). It contains 20 to 30 drab disk flowers and about 12 beautiful, l/2-inch-long, blue ray flowers. When the floret opens, the style covered with sweeping hairs extrudes through the short anther tube then twists into a one- or two-coil spiral; when this occurs, the stigma comes in contact with the pollen on the sweeping hairs (Test 1967). This pollen, along with the nectar at the base of the corolla tube is available to bees and many other nectar- and pollen- feeding insects. Pellett (1947*) stated that chicory is a good source of pollen and nectar for honey bees and that the bees produce from chicory a yellowish-green honey.

Pollination Requirements:
Knuth (1908*, p. 672) stated that when the stigma comes in contact with the pollen adhering to the style, automatic self-pollination occurs in the absence of insects. Rick (1953) found that self-pollination was unsuccessful because chicory is self-incompatible. Stout (1916) selfed plants and obtained no seeds, but his open-pollinated plants set 61 percent of the flowers, which also showed that the plants were self- incompatible. Dinakaran and Sundara; (1960) stated that fertilization occurs both within and between heads as a result of insect activity. Pecant (1958) found all stages of compatibility in each cultivar studied, indicating that seed production would be materially benefited by pollinating insect activity. Davidovich and Davydova (1947) conducted cage tests with two cultivars, 'Magdeburg' and 'Golova Ugrya', and the data below, taken from their report, shows that both cultivars benefited from insect pollination. Both cultivars had only a few empty achenes if bees were present, but many if bees were absent.

[gfx]
__________________________________________________________ ÔMagdebuurgÕ ÔGolova UgryaÕ cv. Exposure to pollinators Full Puny Empty Full Puny Empty __________________________________________________________ Percent of achenes Caged with bees 61.4 22.7 15.9 50.0 40.5 9.5 Open 59.5 4.3 36.2 43.3 30.7 26.0 Caged without bees 14.7 5.0 80.3 10.3 7.9 81.8 __________________________________________________________

Davidovich and Davydova (1947) also observed trees in two open fields, one of which was 300 m from the apiary and one 3 km away. Near the apiary, 12 bees per 10 m² resulted in 11 g seed per plant; whereas at the distant location where only six bees per m2 were observed, only 7 g of seed per plant were obtained. The results showed that about 1 bee per square yard resulted in almost twice as much seed as one-half bee per yd2. This showed the value of and need for bee pollinators for commercial production of chicory seed.

Pollinators:
There seems to be little information on the pollinating agents of chicory other than honey bees. The type of flower and its relationship to other better known plant species would indicate that it is not wind pollinated. This is supported by the data obtained in the above experiment by Davidovich and Davydova (1947). Knuth (1908*, p. 672) mentioned numerous insect visitors in the Coleoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, and Hymenoptera. Within the Hymenoptera, he mentioned the genera Andrena, Anthidium, and Apis; and many spp. of Halictus, Osmia, and Prosopis. Of these insects, only the honey bees have been demonstrated to be effective, and they can be concentrated on the crop effectively when and where desired.

Pollination Recommendations and Practices:
None.

LITERATURE CITED:
DAVIDOVICH, K, A., and DAVYDOVA, N. S.
1947. [CHICORY AND HONEY BEES.] Pchelovodstvo 24(1): 26 - 28. [In Russian.]

DINAKARAN, M., and SUNDARAJ, D. D.
1960. PRELIMINARY STUDIES ON CHICORY (CICHORIUM INTYBUS L.) WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO FLORAL BIOLOGY. So. India Hort. 8: (1/2): 23-27.

PECANT, P.
1958. NOTE SUR LA BIOLOGIE FLORAL DE L'ENDIVE (CICHORIUM INTYBUS) AUTO-COMPATABILITE ET INTER-INCOMPATIBILITE. Adv. in Hort. Sci. and Their Appl. 15th Internatl. Hort. Cong. Proc. Nixe 1: 376-380. [In French, English abstract.]

RICK, C.M.
1953. CHICORY-ENDIVE HYBRIDIZED. Calif. Agr. 7(9): 7.

STOUT, A. B.
1916. SELF- AND CROSS-POLLINATION IN CICHORIUM INTYBUS WITH REFERENCE TO STERILITY. N.Y. Bot. Gard. Mem. 6: 333 - 454.

TEST, R.
1967. [FLORAL BIOLOGY AND REPRODUCTION IN CHICORY.] Sementi Elette 13(1): 22 - 27. [In Italian, English summary.]