PLANTING GEOMETRY EFFECTS ON SEED YIELD AND QUALITY OF TWO RADISH CULTIVARS

Radish is a direct seeded vegetable crop of both temperate and tropical regions. Crop stand depends on seed quality, besides other factors. Seed production of radish remained neglected in Pakistan and limited work has been done regarding optimization of various aspects of seed production. Therefore, objective of the current work was to standardize the plant spacing (row and plant spacing) of radish for seed production. Stecklings of two radish cultivars (Forty Days and Mino Early) were planted at 30 or 45 cm plant-to-plant and 45, 60 or 75 cm row-to-row spacing. Results showed that branch length, number of branches, plant height, silique length, silique weight, number of seeds per silique, number of siliques per plant, seed yield per plant, 1000-seed weight, and nitrogen, phosphorus and potash (NPK) contents of seeds were higher for the plant and row spacing of 45 x 75 cm. However, seed yield per plot was (10.47 and 5.36%) higher at closer spacing (30 x 45 cm) during the both years. The two cultivars did not differ significantly for most of the studied traits except, branch length, lodging index, insertion height of first silique and silique weight per plant, which were higher for cultivar Mino Early than Forty Days. In conclusion, seed companies and growers can grow radish seed crop at 45 x 75 cm spacing for obtaining high yield of good quality seed.