EFFECT OF SPACING AND CORMEL SIZE ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF MUKHIKACHU (Colocasia esculenta L. Scott)

Abstract

A study was conducted at the Horticultural Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka during the period from February 2012 to March 2013. Cormels of mukhikachu cv. Bilashi were used for the research work. The experiment consisted of two factors: Factor A: Plant spacing (4 levels) as- S : 60 cm × 20 cm, S 2 : 60 cm × 30 cm, S size (3 levels) as- C 1 3 : 60 cm × 40 cm and S : Small size (5.0-7.5 g), C 4 1 : 60 cm × 50 cm; Factor B: Cormel 2 : Medium size (7.5-10.0 g) and C : Large size (10.0-12.5 g). The two factors experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. For plant spacing and cormel size, most of the studied characters showed statistically significant variation. The highest yield of corm and cormel per hectare (5.58 and 26.15 ton) was attained from S , whereas the lowest (4.45 and 16.64 ton) from S . In case of cormel size, the highest yield of corm and cormel per hectare (5.87 and 23.89 ton) was found from C 1 , again the lowest (4.39 and 21.10 ton) from C . For interaction effect, the highest weight of corm and cormel per hectare (6.76 and 28.19 ton) was recorded from S 1 , while the lowest (3.96 and 15.16 ton) from S 1 C . It was revealed that 60 cm × 40 cm plant spacing with large size (10.0-12.5 g) cormel was best in consideration of growth and yield of mukhikachu.