EFFECT OF INTER AND INTRA ROW SPACING ON YIELD COMPONENTS AND YIELD OF MAIZE (Zea mays L.) AT CHINAKSEN, EASTERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Maize production plays vital role for the producers of the study area in serving as staple food. However, its productivity is constrained by a number of factors out of which optimum spacing is among the most important production factors. The Objective of the experiment was to investigate the influence of inter and intra-row spacing on yield components and grain yield of maize in 2019 cropping season at Chinaksen, East Hararghe Zone, eastern Ethiopia. The experiment was arranged in a factorial combination of the four inter-rows (55, 65, 75 and 85 cm) spacing and three intra-row spacing (25, 30, and 35 cm) spacing which were laid out in RCBD with three replication using maize (Zea mays L.) Melkassa-II variety. The results obtained had shown that there was highly significant (P<0.01) main effect of inter-row spacing on plant height, leaf area, leaf area index, number of ears per plant, number of kernels per ear, above ground dry biomass yield per hectare and harvest index while thousand kernel weight was significantly (P< 0.05) affected by inter and intra-row spacing. The highest mean plant height (155.6 cm), leaf area (7287cm2), number of ears per plant (1.32), number of kernels per ear (540.4) and harvest index (40.5) which were obtained from widest inter row spacing of 85 cm while the highest above ground dry biomass yield per hectare (14704 kg-1) and leaf area index (3.687) were obtained from the narrowest inter row spacing of 55 cm. The highest mean thousand kernel weight (348.6) was obtained from widest inter row spacing of 85 cm while the highest mean thousand kernel weight (347) was obtained from widest intra-row spacing of 35 cm. Highly significant difference due to the main effects of intra-row spacing was observed on all the above parameters except plant height, number of ears per plant and harvest index which was significant (P< 0.05). There was highly significant interaction effect of inter-row by intra-row spacing on stand count percent, ear length and grain yield per hectare. The highest plant stand count percentage (97.87%), ear length (27.2 cm) and grain yield (5594 kg-1) were recorded from 85 x 35 cm, 85 x 35 cm and 55 cm x 25 cm inter and intra-row spacing combinations respectively. In general, significantly higher grain yield was obtained due to closer spacing. Therefore it can be concluded that spacing combinations of 55 x 25 cm responded favorably in attaining higher grain yield of maize in the study area.