Avanços na ciência e tecnologia agrícola

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Influence of Plant Population Density on Growth and Yield of Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) at Wondo Genet, South Ethiopia

Nebret Tadesse and Midhekisa Chala

An experiment was conducted at Wondo Genet Agricultural Research Center in the production season of 2016 and 2017 with the objective of identifying the best combination of intra and inter-row spacing for optimum plant population density of chamomile. The experiment was conducted using four intra-row spacing (40 cm, 50 cm, 60 cm and 70 cm) and three inter-row spacing (40 cm, 60 cm and 80 cm) with a total treatment combination of twelve that were laid out in factorial RCBD design with three replications. The main effect of intra-row and inter-row spacing had a significant influence on a number of flowers per plant, the weight of fresh flower per plant in both cropping seasons. In 2016 cropping season significantly higher number of flowers per plant was obtained from the interaction spacing of 60 cm × 60 cm and In 2017 cropping season weight of fresh flower per plant was affected by the interaction spacing of 60 cm × 80 cm. Significantly maximum fresh flower weight per hectare and dry flower weight per hectare was obtained from the main effect of 40 cm intra-row and 40 cm inter-row spacing in both cropping seasons and in 2017 cropping season their interaction was significantly influenced by the weight of fresh flower per hectare.

The pooled mean analysis showed that the maximum fresh flower weight per hectare (3779 kg ha^-1), dry flower weight per hectare (517.2 kg ha^-1) and (586.7 kg ha^-1) were obtained from the treatment combination of 40 cm intrarow with 40 cm inter-row spacing. In 2016 cropping season maximum oil yield (5.6 kg ha^-1) was obtained from the treatments combination of 40 cm intra-row with 40 cm inter-row spacing. Therefore we suggest that the bestcombined intra-row and inter-row spacing for chamomile is 40 cm × 40 cm to attain maximum yield under appropriate management conditions at Wondo genet and similar agroecology zones.