Influence of irrigation interval, nitrogen level and crop geometry on production of trickle irrigated lettuce Patil Tejaswini, Singh Man*, Singh Balraj1, Khanna Manoj, Singh D.K., Parihar S.S. Water Technology Centre, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110 012 1Centre for Protected Cultivation Technology, IARI, New Delhi-110012. *Corresponding author's E-mail: mansingh@iari.res.in, ptejaswini2002@gmail.com
Online published on 17 September, 2012. Abstract Field experiments were conducted during winter season (October to February) of 2008–09 and 2009–10 to investigate the growth and yield response of lettuce to different irrigation intervals, nitrogen application rates and different crop geometries under trickle irrigation. The plan of experiment included three crop geometries [45 × 30 (G1); 30 × 30 (G2) and 17.5 × 30 (G3) (Row × plant spacing in cm)], two irrigation schedules [2 days (I1) and 4 days (I2) interval] and two levels of nitrogen application [60 kg ha−1 (N1) and 100 kg ha−1 (N2)]. For both the experiments there were three replications. The coefficient of variation of the emitter discharge used in trickle irrigation system was 0.059 and 0.091 in 2008–09 and 2009–10, respectively. The results revealed that lettuce raised with 17.5 cm × 30 cm crop spacing, along with two day irrigation interval and 100 kg N ha−1 application gave the maximum plant height (18.5 and 17.3 cm), leaf area index (2.37 and 2.27) and marketable yield (43.06 and 39.64 t/ha). Maximum number of leaves (19 and 16), head weight (347.4 and 312.6 g) and head diameter (13.9 and 12.5 cm) with 45 cm × 30 cm crop spacing, along with two day irrigation interval and 100 kg N ha−1 application rate. It can be concluded from field experimental data that two day irrigation interval with 100 kg N ha−1 application if coupled with closer row spacing may result in higher marketable yield in lettuce. Top Keywords Crop geometry, growth, lettuce, trickle irrigation, yield. Top |