Abstract:
Spices play significant role in flavoring of food and generation of income both in local and
foreign market
s
. Ethiopia has a diverse climate to grow wide variety of spices. However,
there is little information concerning the production technology of white cumin. Maintenance
of proper plant population is crucial to obtain desired yield.
Improper inter
and intra
r
ow
spacing is one of the major causes for the reduction of white cumin yield. Its yield can be
achi
eved by optimum inter and intra
row spacing.
Therefore, a field expe
riment was
conducted at
Dembia d
istrict
from August
2017
to January 2018 under rainy
season
to
determine the optimum inter
and intra
row spacing for better white cumin productivity. A
factorial combination of four levels of inter
row spacing (30, 40, 50 and 6
0 cm) and three
levels of intra
row spacing (10, 15 and 20 cm) were laid out in R
andomized Complete Block
Design
(RCBD)
with three replications.
The
present
results
showed that the maximum day
taken to flowering (9
2 days) was recorded in 50 cm inter
row and 20 cm intra row spacing
.
The highest number of primary and secondary branches were obtained in 60 cm inter row
and 20 cm intra row spacing.
Similarly the maximum number of umbels and umbellets were
recorded in 40 cm inter row and 20 cm intra row spacing.
The above mentioned parame
ters
showed only the main effect. On the other hand
inter and intra row spacing showed no
significant effect on days to 90% maturity and thousand seed weight.
T
he interaction
effect
of
inter
and intra
row
spacing
have
a significant e
ffect
on
plant height
(
65.3 cm)
, biological
yield
(7440 kg
ha
-
1
)
, seed yield
(2118 kg
ha
-
1
),
and harvest index
(28.5%)
and
th
ese
result
were obtained at 40 x 10 cm
spacing
.
Therefore, it could be concluded that white cumin
should
be planted at
spacing of 40 x 10 cm
in Dembia
district and simila
r
ago ecological
areas to attain maximum yield
