Effect of Spacing and Nitrogen Fertilizer on the Yield and Yield Component of Shallot (Allium ascalonium L.)

Abstract

This research was conducted to study the interaction effect of different rate of nitrogen fertilizer and plant spacing on yield and yield components of shallot under Jimma condition, in the experimental field of College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Jimma University. Local variety of shallot was used with the three level of nitrogen (0kg/ha, 100kg/ha, 150kg/ha) and three intra-row spacing (10cm, 15cm, 20cm). The result of this field experiment indicated that, the interaction effect of 150gk/ha and 20cm spacing resulted highly significant plant height (30.33cm) (p<0.05). Nitrogen levels significantly affected the number of leaves per plant of shallot with the highest value (27.84cm) obtained from 100 kg N ha^-1 ,so statistically  significant(p<0.05). There was no significant effect of interaction between nitrogen and intra-row spacing on leave number of shallot. Significantly largest stem diameter 0.63cm (p<0.50) was obtained from intra-row spacing of 20cm. But there was no interaction effect of nitrogen and spacing on the stem diameter of shallot. There was no interaction effect of nitrogen fertilizer and spacing on the bulb diameter of shallot. No significant difference was obtained with the interaction effect of nitrogen and spacing on shallot bulb weight. An increased N dose to 100kgha^-1 resulted in the increased yield of shallot bulbs to 30.2 tha^-1 which was significantly different from 0kgha^-1 and 150kgha^-1(p<0.05). From this finding the highest growth performance of plant which leads to increased yield could be using 150kgha^-1and spacing of 20cm.However the conclusive recommendation should be based on the results of repeated experiments.

Keywords: Shallot, Nitrogen, Spacing, Plant height, Leave number