Effect of Planting Date and Spacing on Growth and Yield of Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) Under Irrigated Conditions

Abstract

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) plant is a medicinal aromatic herb and belongs to Apiaceae family. It has a rich nutritional value and has many medicinal usages. Very limited information is available in the literature about fennel cultivation and production practices. Therefore, this study was carried out to evaluate the effect of planting date and plant spacing and their interactive effects on yield, yield components and growth of Fennel under irrigation. Three planting dates (Oct. 1st, Nov. 1st and Dec. 1st) and four plant spacings (10, 20, 30 and 40 cm with constant row width, 60 cm) were used. Fruit yield was significantly (p<0.05) influenced by plant spacing and planting date and their interaction. Early planting significantly increased the fruit yield combined with higher number of branches per plant, number of umbrella per plant, number of fruit per plant and plant height. The percentage of increases in Oct. 1st were 34.4 and 32.2% in fruit and biological yield respectively compared with Dec. 1st. Harvest index and thousand fruit weight was not significantly affected by planting date. Increase plant spacing to 30 cm led to more than 15% increase in fruit and biological yield. The early planting date with 30 cm plant spacing resulted in higher fruit (4136 kg ha(-1)) and biological yield (10,114 kg ha(-1)).