DETERMINATION OF OPTIMUM AGE AND DENSITY OF SEEDLINGS FOR TEFF (Eragrostis teff (Zucc.) Trotter) TRANSPLANTING ON IRRIGATED FIELDS OF TIGRAY, NORTHERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Current observation indicates that teff responds well to transplanting. This agronomic practice is believed to enhance teff productivity through drought escaping and tolerance, improve soil resource utilization and escaping early insect pest attack. The bottleneck to implement this practice is that age of seedlings and row spacing are not well known. The main objective of this research is to determine the optimum age of seedlings and row spacing to transplant teff and observe the impact of the practices on productivity and economic benefit of the crop. This research was conducted in two of the major teff growing Weredas of Tigray namely Enderta (Chelekot) and Hintalo-wajerat (May Nigus_adigudom). The design used was split plot design with three replications where the inter row spacing was main plot and the combination of age of seedlings and intra row spacing was sub plot. Results shown that the interaction of five weeks old seedling transplanted at spacing of 20cm between plants and rows had significant effect on most of the yield and yield components of teff. This resulted in higher grain yield of teff recorded more than 31qt/ha as compared to around 20qt/ha of yield obtained from broadcasted teff especially in Chelekot. The higher labor cost incurred for transplanting teff was compensated by the higher yield obtained from the practice. Generally, it can be concluded that transplanting enables teff to show its yield potential and is better than broadcasting in irrigated agriculture of Tigray.