Abstract
Expansion of United States hop production beyond the Pacific Northwest, has prompted the need for hop research with a regional focus. North Dakota State University has responded to this demand within the Red River Valley by conducting hop cultivar performance and agronomic management trials. In addition, interest in low-input hop yards have prompted an evaluation in hop production with non-supplemental water sources. Field experiments were conducted in 2017 and 2018 at the NDSU Horticulture Research Farm near Absaraka, ND, USA, to evaluate the growth and yield characteristics of nine commercial hop cultivars in response to varied training densities. Cultivars were planted in 2016 on a non-irrigated six-meter trellis system with data collection occurring in 2017 and 2018. Bines were trained at two, four and eight bines per crown. Before mechanical harvest, plant biomass, plant height, and harvest bine number were recorded. Postharvest, cone moisture, cone size, and yield were determined. It was determined that cultivars produced significantly higher yield kg·ha
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when trained with eight bines per crown in 2018. However, ‘Nugget’ and ‘Canadian Red Vine’ yielded the highest in 2017 compared with the other cultivars. Furthermore, ‘Nugget’, ‘Canadian Red Vine’, and ‘Cascade’ yielded the highest in 2018 compared with the other cultivars. Relatively low yields within the study have prompted interest repeating the trial under irrigated conditions.