Influence of Plant Population Density and Variety on the Growth and Yield Components of Carrot (Daucus Carota L.)

Chiamaka Adaeze Chizaram-Ndubuaku, Nancy Ekene Ebido* and Kayode Paul Baiyeri

Department of Crop Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria

*Corresponding Author: Nancy Ekene Ebido, Department of Crop Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.

Received: December 20, 2022; Published: January 06, 2023

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine the influence of plant population density and varietal differences on the performance of carrot grown in pots. The treatments were plant population density (1, 3 and 5 plants per pot) and varieties (Safety Touchon Mega, Carotte Touchon AM and Carotte Touchon ETS), which were replicated five times in a Completely Randomized Design laid out as split plot experiment. Plant parameters measured were whole plant biomass yield (g), root weight (g), foliage weight (g), root uniformity, root length (cm), and other root metric traits (cm) (proximal, mid, and distal girth). The results revealed that Plant Population Density (PPD) significantly influenced metric growth parameters and all yield components. The intermediate density, PPD 3, significantly produced the highest means for whole plant biomass, root and foliage yield (246.7g, 146.9g and 99.9g) respectively. PPD1 produced the lowest yield values but gave the highest values on root length, proximal and mid girth (14.2cm, 14.7cm and 11.0cm) respectively. PPD 5 recorded the lowest values on root metric growth parameters (10.3, 8.2, 7.2 and 4.8 cm). Among the varieties sown, growth and components of yield did not vary statistically but differed numerically. Carotte Touchon AM recorded the highest values, 198.9g of whole plant biomass yield and 81.1g of foliage weight while Carotte Touchon ETS recorded the highest values on the metric growth parameters except proximal girth. Biplot analyses of the combined effects of population density and genotype suggested three plants per pot of Safety Touchon Mega as the most appropriate for pot planting. Findings from this study revealed variable carrot metric traits and yield as influenced by number of plants per pot and the particular genotype planted.

Keywords: Crop Performance; Carrot Varieties; Planting Density; Potted Vegetables

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Citation

Citation: Nancy Ekene Ebido., et al. “Influence of Plant Population Density and Variety on the Growth and Yield Components of Carrot (Daucus Carota L.)". Acta Scientific Agriculture 7.2 (2023): 13-17.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2023 Nancy Ekene Ebido., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.