Determination of Optimum Plant Spacing on Growth and Yield of Chinese cabbage in Ethiopia

Abstract

Chinese cabbage is an important leafy and herbaceous vegetable crop. It is a fast-growing vegetable crop with a comparatively short vegetation period, source of minerals, proteins, and antioxidants. But, optimum plant spacing of Chinese cabbage is not determined, since the crop is new in Ethiopia. Therefore, the field experiment was conducted at Melkassa, Kulumsa and Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Centers during 2020 and 2021 main rainy season to determine the effects of plant spacing on growth and yield of Chinese cabbage. The experiment was laid out in factorial Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The experiment consisted three levels of inter row spacing (40, 50 and 60 cm) and three levels of intra row spacing (30, 40 and 50 cm). The analysis of variance revealed that the interaction and main effects of inter and intra row spacing didn’t show significant difference on plant width, head weight, head length and head diameter. However, the main effect of inter and intra row spacing showed significant difference (P<0.05) on plant height. The longest plant height was recorded at 40 cm and 30 cm inter and intra row spacing, respectively, while the shortest height was obtained from 60 cm and 50 cm inter and intra row spacing, respectively. The interaction and main effects of inter and intra row spacing showed non-significant difference on marketable and total yield at Melkassa and Kulumsa during 2021, however, both traits showed significant difference at Debre Zeit on the same year 2021.The overall combined analysis showed significant difference (P<0.05) on marketable and total yield. The highest total yield recorded was 518.59 qt ha^-1 and 534.30 qt ha^-1at 40 cm inter and 30 cm intra row spacing, respectively. However, the lowest total yield (403.84 qt ha^-1 and 385.42 qt ha^-1) was obtained ^at 60 cm inter and 50 cm intra row spacing from overall combined analyses. Therefore; from the results obtained, it is recommended to use 40 cm and 30 cm inter and intra row spacing, respectively for the testing environments and similar agro-ecologies in the country for Chinese cabbage productions.