Comparison of growth and yield performance of several water chestnut species collected from Southwestern Japan and Middle China

Vegetative growth characters and yield components of water chestnuts distributed in Japan and China were investigated for 12 local lines of 6 species ; i.e., 5 small and 2 medium fruit lines from Japan, and 5 large fruit lines from China. The materials were transplanted and grown in a flooded field usually used for rice cultivation in Saga City in 1995. The lines from China had higher rates of foliage formation, developed emersed leaves earlier and maintained them longer compared with the Japanese lines. The small fruit lines of Japan had the shortest growing period, although the number of rosettes was larger. The fruit yield of the small, medium and large fruit lines, was 250 to 400 g m^-2, about 600 g m^-2 and 600 to 1,000 g m^-2 , respectively. The fresh weight of well-ripened fruit was 1 to 5 g for the small fruit lines, 5 to 10 g for the medium fruit lines and more than 10 g for the large fruit lines. The number of fruits per m2 increased as the fruit size of the lines decreased. However, the productivity of the water chestnut was higher in the large fruit lines than in the small or medium fruit lines.