Potato is one of the most important crops in the farming system of Bekoji and Kofele in the cool highlands of Arsi where potato is usually grown biennially during the main and ‘bulg’ seasons. ‘Belete’ has been the dominant potato variety in these areas for the last ten years now and farmers prefer to grow this variety for its high productivity and resistance to late blight disease. Nevertheless, farmers have complaints on its big sized tubers, considered as unmarketable, which costs them more seed to cover a given area of land and less suitable for cooking. Besides, farmers often use random population density and time of harvesting, which also contribute to this problem. The present study was therefore intended to manage the tubers’ size distribution of this variety without negatively affecting the yield of the crop through modifying plant spacing and time of harvesting from previously recommended practices. Twelve combinations of four plant spacing and three time of harvesting were studied on variety “Belete’ at Bekoji and Kofele in the main seasons of 2018 and 2019. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized block design with 4x3 factorial arrangement in three replications. The analysis of variance revealed that the interaction effect of spacing and time of harvesting significantly (p<0.001) affected the marketable tuber yields. The narrow spacing (60cmx20cm) or high population treatment (83,333 plants/ha) with 120 days after planting resulted in the highest marketable and total tuber yield compared to the rest. While the least yields were recorded from the wider spacing of 75cmx30cm (44,444plants/ha) and early harvesting (90 days). The spacing 60cmx20cm did 17.2% increment in marketable yield over the previously recommended spacing of potato (75cmx30cm, 44,444plants/ha). From this study, therefore, it can be recommended for Belete that the narrow spacing of 60cmx20cm and harvesting at 120 days after planting could be the optimum spacing and time of harvesting to produce marketable tubers.
Published in | American Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering (Volume 9, Issue 1) |
DOI | 10.11648/j.bio.20210901.11 |
Page(s) | 1-7 |
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Days After Planting, Tuber Size Distribution, Marketable Yield, Unmarketable Yield
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APA Style
Demis Fikre Limeneh, Fekadu Gebretensay Mengistu, Gizaw Wegayehu Tilahun, Dasta Tsagaye Galalcha, Awoke Ali Zeleke, et al. (2021). Effects of Plant Spacing and Time of Harvesting on Yield and Tuber Size Distribution of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L) Variety Southeast Ethiopia. American Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering, 9(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.bio.20210901.11
ACS Style
Demis Fikre Limeneh; Fekadu Gebretensay Mengistu; Gizaw Wegayehu Tilahun; Dasta Tsagaye Galalcha; Awoke Ali Zeleke, et al. Effects of Plant Spacing and Time of Harvesting on Yield and Tuber Size Distribution of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L) Variety Southeast Ethiopia. Am. J. BioSci. Bioeng. 2021, 9(1), 1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.bio.20210901.11
AMA Style
Demis Fikre Limeneh, Fekadu Gebretensay Mengistu, Gizaw Wegayehu Tilahun, Dasta Tsagaye Galalcha, Awoke Ali Zeleke, et al. Effects of Plant Spacing and Time of Harvesting on Yield and Tuber Size Distribution of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L) Variety Southeast Ethiopia. Am J BioSci Bioeng. 2021;9(1):1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.bio.20210901.11
@article{10.11648/j.bio.20210901.11, author = {Demis Fikre Limeneh and Fekadu Gebretensay Mengistu and Gizaw Wegayehu Tilahun and Dasta Tsagaye Galalcha and Awoke Ali Zeleke and Nimona Fufa Hundie}, title = {Effects of Plant Spacing and Time of Harvesting on Yield and Tuber Size Distribution of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L) Variety Southeast Ethiopia}, journal = {American Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering}, volume = {9}, number = {1}, pages = {1-7}, doi = {10.11648/j.bio.20210901.11}, url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.bio.20210901.11}, eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.bio.20210901.11}, abstract = {Potato is one of the most important crops in the farming system of Bekoji and Kofele in the cool highlands of Arsi where potato is usually grown biennially during the main and ‘bulg’ seasons. ‘Belete’ has been the dominant potato variety in these areas for the last ten years now and farmers prefer to grow this variety for its high productivity and resistance to late blight disease. Nevertheless, farmers have complaints on its big sized tubers, considered as unmarketable, which costs them more seed to cover a given area of land and less suitable for cooking. Besides, farmers often use random population density and time of harvesting, which also contribute to this problem. The present study was therefore intended to manage the tubers’ size distribution of this variety without negatively affecting the yield of the crop through modifying plant spacing and time of harvesting from previously recommended practices. Twelve combinations of four plant spacing and three time of harvesting were studied on variety “Belete’ at Bekoji and Kofele in the main seasons of 2018 and 2019. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized block design with 4x3 factorial arrangement in three replications. The analysis of variance revealed that the interaction effect of spacing and time of harvesting significantly (p<0.001) affected the marketable tuber yields. The narrow spacing (60cmx20cm) or high population treatment (83,333 plants/ha) with 120 days after planting resulted in the highest marketable and total tuber yield compared to the rest. While the least yields were recorded from the wider spacing of 75cmx30cm (44,444plants/ha) and early harvesting (90 days). The spacing 60cmx20cm did 17.2% increment in marketable yield over the previously recommended spacing of potato (75cmx30cm, 44,444plants/ha). From this study, therefore, it can be recommended for Belete that the narrow spacing of 60cmx20cm and harvesting at 120 days after planting could be the optimum spacing and time of harvesting to produce marketable tubers.}, year = {2021} }
TY - JOUR T1 - Effects of Plant Spacing and Time of Harvesting on Yield and Tuber Size Distribution of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L) Variety Southeast Ethiopia AU - Demis Fikre Limeneh AU - Fekadu Gebretensay Mengistu AU - Gizaw Wegayehu Tilahun AU - Dasta Tsagaye Galalcha AU - Awoke Ali Zeleke AU - Nimona Fufa Hundie Y1 - 2021/02/09 PY - 2021 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.bio.20210901.11 DO - 10.11648/j.bio.20210901.11 T2 - American Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering JF - American Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering JO - American Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2328-5893 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.bio.20210901.11 AB - Potato is one of the most important crops in the farming system of Bekoji and Kofele in the cool highlands of Arsi where potato is usually grown biennially during the main and ‘bulg’ seasons. ‘Belete’ has been the dominant potato variety in these areas for the last ten years now and farmers prefer to grow this variety for its high productivity and resistance to late blight disease. Nevertheless, farmers have complaints on its big sized tubers, considered as unmarketable, which costs them more seed to cover a given area of land and less suitable for cooking. Besides, farmers often use random population density and time of harvesting, which also contribute to this problem. The present study was therefore intended to manage the tubers’ size distribution of this variety without negatively affecting the yield of the crop through modifying plant spacing and time of harvesting from previously recommended practices. Twelve combinations of four plant spacing and three time of harvesting were studied on variety “Belete’ at Bekoji and Kofele in the main seasons of 2018 and 2019. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized block design with 4x3 factorial arrangement in three replications. The analysis of variance revealed that the interaction effect of spacing and time of harvesting significantly (p<0.001) affected the marketable tuber yields. The narrow spacing (60cmx20cm) or high population treatment (83,333 plants/ha) with 120 days after planting resulted in the highest marketable and total tuber yield compared to the rest. While the least yields were recorded from the wider spacing of 75cmx30cm (44,444plants/ha) and early harvesting (90 days). The spacing 60cmx20cm did 17.2% increment in marketable yield over the previously recommended spacing of potato (75cmx30cm, 44,444plants/ha). From this study, therefore, it can be recommended for Belete that the narrow spacing of 60cmx20cm and harvesting at 120 days after planting could be the optimum spacing and time of harvesting to produce marketable tubers. VL - 9 IS - 1 ER -