Owing to their high nutritional value and medicinal properties, garlic chives, a representative of the genus Allium, are a valuable vegetable. The edible parts are green leaves and young stalks with flower buds and the bulbs. Allium tuberosum, known as garlic chives, Chinese chives or Oriental garlic, is a perennial species, adapted to a moderate climate. Of special concern is the fact that this species is readily infested by weeds, especially when grown on the same stand for many years. One possible measure to combat weed infestation is mulching. The aim of our study has been to make an assessment of the effect of mulching on yielding and biological value of Oriental garlic in the second and third year of its growth. The mulches used in the experiment were black and white polyethylene foil, black polypropylene agrotextile, black biodegradable foil and miscanthus chaff. The research results proved that the leaf yield significantly increased in the subsequent years of plant cultivation. The highest leaf yield from garlic chives was obtained on the plots mulched with black polypropylene agrotextile, black polyethylene foil and black biodegradable foil. Two-year-old plants contained significantly more dry matter, chlorophyll, carotenoids and potassium but less of nitrates. Mulching with white polyethylene foil considerably favoured the accumulation of dry matter, carotenoids, phosphorus, potassium and nitrates by garlic chives

21.1.2016