Effect of Intra Row Spacing on Growth, Yield Components and Yield of Garlic (Allium Sativum L) at Fitch, North Showa Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is a monocotyledonous aromatic plant belonging to the Alliaceae family and genus Allium. It is used as a spice and medicinal plant. The production of garlic in Ethiopia is low as compared to other growing countries. This is due to different factors like the unavailability of appropriate disease-free seeds (Cloves), inappropriate agronomic practices, i.e., sowing time, seed rate, and both intra- and inter-row spacing. That is the reason why the research report was studied. A field experiment was conducted at the Fiche, Salale University, General Tadesse Biru campus demonstration site during the 2020 cropping season. The objective of the study was to identify the effect of intra-row spacing on the growth, yield, and yield components of garlic. One local variety of garlic, which was bought from Fiche Market, was used for the field experiment. The experiment was laid out using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications and four treatments/intrarow spacing, i.e., 8cm, 10cm, 12 cm, and 14cm between plants. Growth, yield, and yield components data were collected and subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SAS 9.3, and least significant difference (LSD) at p<0.05 probability was used to separate means. The ANOVA showed significant variation among all collected parameters. The wider the plant spaced, the better the growth performance of the garlic plant. However, the yield-related parameters are good indicators of yield. Thus, treatments, which are bulb weight and number of cloves per bulb, showed better performance of morphological parameters and also suggest a positive relationship with increasing plant spacing statistically. According to those ANOVA results, farmers or growers may produce more yield with a plant spacing of 14*25 because all parameters are significant as compared to other treatments.