Effect of Inter and Intra-Row Spacing on Yield and Yield Components of Lettuce (Lactuca Sativa) in South East Tigray, Ethiopia
Journal Title: Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research (BJSTR) - Year 2017, Vol 1, Issue 6
Abstract
Development of recommendation on appropriate plant spacing is one of the important agronomic practices to increase the productivity of lettuce. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted to assess the response of Tesfa Mekelle lettuce variety to different inter and intra row spacing in 2014 cropping season at Illala. The experiment was arranged in a factorial combination of three levels of intra row spacing (30, 40 and 50cm) and two levels of inter row spacing (60 and 70 cm) in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The result revealed that plant spacing showed significant effects on leaf number per plant, plant width and fresh biomass yield per hectare. Conversely, the treatment combinations did not significantly affect plant height and leaf length. The highest number of leaves per plant was recorded at 50 x 60 cm intra and inters row spacing and the lowest was obtained from 30 x 60cm intra and inters row spacing respectively. The highest biomass yield (53.6 ton ha-1) was recorded at 40 x 60cm and no further increases was observed when intra spacing increase to 50 cm nor inter row spacing increase up to70cm. The lowest was recorded in spacing 50×70cm. Therefore, it is vital to demonstrate the best treatment (40x60cm) under farmer’s conditions. Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) an annual leafy herb belongs to the family Compositae is one of the most popular salad crops and occupies the largest production area among salad crops in the world. It is popular for its delicate, crispy texture and slightly bitter taste with milky juice as fresh condition. It is the most popular amongst the salad vegetable crops [1]. It is usually used as salad with tomato, carrot, cucumber or other salad vegetable and often served alone or with dressing. Likewise, in Tigray, Lettuce is an important cash and food security crop for small holder farmers and fresh salad retailers. The lettuce which was grown in the region before was early bolting which is nationally released where farmer use traditional way of planting without distinct inter and intra row spacing. To date a new lettuce variety was released by the Mekelle Agricultural research center. This variety (Tesfa Mekelle) was the first of its kind and its yield and maturity period are higher and longer and tend to form larger leaves which makes it preferred by farmers for commercial purpose. Successful production of any crop however, requires its own agronomic practices among which plant spacing is one of the factors that can affect vegetable quality and quantity. Optimum plant density ensure plants to grow uniformly and properly through efficient utilization of moisture, nutrients and light resulted in maximum yield of lettuce [2]. Nevertheless, information on plant population has been limited for lettuce production particular for the newly released variety. Therefore, this study was initiated with the objective of assessing the effect of different intra and inter-row spacing on growth and yield of the newly released lettuce variety.
Authors and Affiliations
Beyenesh Zemichael, Mereseit Hadush, Niguse Abebe
Keywords
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- EP ID EP578762
- DOI 10.26717/BJSTR.2017.01.000516
- Views 227
- Downloads 0
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