Growth Response of Peach (Prunus persica L.) Var. “Tropic Beauty” to Intra-Row Spacing and Blended NPS Fertilizer Rate

Abstract

Peach fruit has been cultivated in Ethiopia, using poor production technologies such as unspecified population density and fertilizer application. Accordingly, this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of intra-row spacing and blended NPS fertilizer rate on the growth performance of peach trees. Peach variety “Tropic Beauty” seedlings were planted in 2017 using a completely randomized block design with factorial arrangement and replicated thrice. The treatments used were three levels of intra-row spacing (4m, 5m, and 6m) and four levels of NPS fertilizer rates (0kg/ha, 100kg/ha,150kg/ha, and 200kg/ha) with a constant inter-row spacing of 4 m. Data on the growth parameters were collected for four consecutive years. The result indicated that the interaction of intra-row spacing and NPS fertilizer rate had a highly significant (p< 0.01) effect on most growth traits. Amongst, tree height (2.66 m), trunk cross-sectional area (31.44 cm²), canopy volume (11.74 m³), and canopy stretch (3.46 m) were superior in the intra-row spacing of 6 m and 150 kg/ha NPS fertilizer rate. Conversely, intra-row spacing of 5 m and 150 kg/ha NPS fertilizer and intra-row spacing of 6 m without NPS fertilizer resulted in the highest branching height (59.42 cm) and annual shoot growth (34.13 cm), respectively. This indicated that intra-row spacing of 6 m with 150kg/ha NPS fertilizer rate could enhance the growth and development of peach trees.