EFFECT OF SOWING MEHTODS ON YIELD AND GROWTH OF SPINACH

Abstract

A study was carried out during 2014-15 to know the effective sowing method for improving the spinach production. The spinach was sown on flat bed system seed broadcasting, flat bed seed drilling in rows, raised bed and ridge bed (furrow). The results revealed that growth and yield components of spinach were significantly (P<0.05) influenced by sowing patterns. The spinach crop cultivated under raised bed system ranked 1st with 34.50 cm plant height, 21.00 leaves plant-1, 44.00 g fresh weight of leaves plant-1, 25.00 cm leaf length, took 29.83 days to first cutting, produced 2119.67 kg spinach yield ha-1. The spinach crop cultivated under ridge bed system ranked 2nd and the plants took 31.67 days to first cutting and produced 2074.00 kg spinach yield ha-1. However, crop performance was superior under raised bed as well as ridge bed (furrow) systems while relatively poor crop performance was observed in flat bed (seed broadcasting). It was concluded that raised bed system was effective sowing method for spinach production.