Standardisation of steckling size and plant spacing on seed production of carrot (Daucus carota. L)
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Date
2020-06
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CCSHAU,HiSAR
Abstract
Carrot (Daucus carota L.) with chromosome number (2n) = 18 and belonging to the family
Umbelliferae is one of the important root vegetable crops. Its cultivated forms have been domesticated
from wild species. At first, it grows a rosette of leaves while, building the enlarged taproot. The fast
growing cultivars mature within three months of sowing, while the slow growing cultivars mature four
months after sowing. The roots contain high quantity of alpha- and beta-carotene, and are a good
source of vitamin K and vitamin B6, thus, it is second most important crop in England after potato.
Carrot roots are used as salad, cooked vegetable and in the preparation of soups, stews, pickle and
sweetmeat.
In India, root to seed is the standard method for the production of high quality seed as this
method allows for the selection of healthy and true to type roots for the planting of stecklings. If the
seed quality is not good, it may again be difficult to get enough number of uniform roots. One of the
major problems faced by carrot growers in India is the unavailability of required amount of good
quality seed. The yield of carrot seed can be increased by using healthy planting material and proper
planting distance. A lot of work has been conducted on production technology but a little work has
been carried out on carrot seed production. The relationship between harvest index and plant density in
carrot seed production is very useful in optimizing plant population for maximum seed yield and
quality. This study was conducted at Seed Research Area of Department of Vegetable Science,
Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during spring-summer season of
2018-19.The objectives of the investigation were to study the effect of steckling size and plant spacing
on growth, seed yield and quality parameters of carrot seed. The experiment comprised five treatments
of plant spacing (60 x 30 cm (Flat), 60 x 45 cm (Flat), 60 x 60 cm (Flat), 60 x 30 cm (Single row on
ridge), 60 x 45 cm (Paired row on ridge)and three steckling size (8 cm, 6 cm and 4 cm) was laid out in
Randomized Block Design with three replications.
Highest seed yield of carrot cv Hisar Gairic was obtained with plant spacing of 60 x 45 (Paired
row on ridge) which was statistically at par with plant spacing of 60 x 30 cm (Single row on ridge) with
stecklings of 8 cm. However, the quality parameters of seed were found better at plant spacing of 60 x
60 cm (Flat) with steckling size of 8 cm.