JOURNAL DE AFRIKANA

7

Authors: Yayeh Bitew, Fekremariam Asargew, Yeshitila Merine, Gobezie Chakelie

Study on effect of seed distribution and population on grain yield of selected maize marieties were conducted at Adet and Finoteslam research station. The experiment was conducted using simple plot design. Increasing the number of seeds per hill in the present study increased competition between plants and lowered grain yield. Planting maize in one seed per hill gave the highest grain yield at both mid and high land altitudes of north western Ethiopia. This observation recommended that further research on different maize varieties should be conducted on different number of seeds per hill in different plant spacing and population.

15

Authors: Yayeh Bitew, Fekremariam Asargew, Gobezie Chakelie

Among the high land legume crops, field pea is the second important stable food grain and it is important low-input break crops throughout the highlands of Ethiopia. The experiment on the effect of intra and inter-row spacing on filed pea was conducted for three year at Adet Agricultural research station and for one year at Debere tabor and Mota research station. Two inter-row spacing (20cm and 25cm) and three intra-row spacing’s (5 cm, 10 cm and 15 cm) were evaluated using two released varieties (Sefinesh and Megeri) in factorial randomized complete block design with 3 replications. The data was analyzed using SAS-JMP5 (2002) computer software. Except the intra row spacing and the interaction effect between variety and intra row spacing, most the main and interaction effects were not significantly affect the agronomic attributes of both varieties. The highest and the lowest plant height for both varieties were recorded at the lowest and the highest intra row spacing, respectively. However, the highest seed yield and thousand seed weight were recorded when both varieties were planted at 10 cm intra row spacing. In the case of interaction effect between variety and intra row spacing, the highest seed yield was recorded when Megeri was planted at 10 cm intra row spacing but statistically on par with 5 cm and when Sefinesh was planted at 10 cm, 15 cm intra row spacing. However, both varieties gave the maximum seed yield when they were planted at 10 cm intra row spacing. On the other hand ,inter row spacing (20 cm and 25 cm) and the interaction effect between variety and inter row spacing did not gave significant yield difference. In conclusion, planting both varieties of field pea at 20 cm inter row spacing and 10 cm intra row spacing gave the optimum seed yield for both varieties in all experimental and similar areas. This study demonstrated that planting both field pea varieties at 20 cm/25cm inter and 10 cm intra row spacing significantly modify field pea yield and yield components by for exploiting the resources of the environment and gave a higher seed yield compared with the other plant spacing, suggesting that they could be used as management tools for increased yield in the high lands of the region. However, further separate research for each variety in different agro ecology of the region should be conducted to see the combined effect of more inter and intra row spacing.