Abstract:
The research project was on the Effect of Spacing and Prunning in Drip Irrigation on Growth and Yield of Physic Nut. It comprised of the combination of 4 spacings as 2.0 × 2.0 meters2 (S1), 2.5 × 2.0 meters2 (S2), 2.5 × 2.5 meters2 (S3) and 3.0 × 3.0 meters2 (S4) and 4 pruning methods as no pruning (T1), first pruning at the height of 50, 70 and 90 centimeters of the main stem (T2, T3 and T4), respectively. The combination were sixteen treatments such as S1T1, S1T2, S1T3, S1T4, S2T1, S2T2, S2T3, S2T4, S3T1, S3T2, S3T3, S3T4, S4T1, S4T2, S4T3 and S4T4, respectively. The experimental design was Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 3 replications. Drip irrigation was used in this research. The first research aim was to find out the optimum spacing and pruning of physic nut in a drip irrigation system. The second aim was to study the growth and yield of physic nut for the data of technology transferation to the farmers. The research was conducted in the years 2008 to 2010, at the research field of Plant Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, Rajamangala University of Technology Isan, Surin Campus. Seedling date was on December 18, 2008. Germination date was on December 28, 2008 and transplanting date to the research field was on May 1, 2009.
The results showed that the researched soil was sandy loam with a very low fertility level. The spacing and the pruning of physic nut that had the highest yields of the total three - year collection were five treatments such as S1T1, S2T4, S2T1, S4T3 and S4T1, respectively. These treatments had significant difference with the lowest yield treatment that were the treatment of S3T3 and S3T2, respectively. Physic nut had the significant difference on the plant height and the number of the plant branch during each year of the rainy season. The fifty percent of flowering date and the harvesting date also had the significant difference in the first year and the second year of an experiment. The yield per plant, the yield component and the yield from the harvest area had significant difference in the third year of an experiment. The three - year highest yield of a fruit weight and a seed weight were about 117.51 (S2T4) and 72.69 (S1T1) kilograms per rai, respectively, and also the lowest yields were about 48.79 (S3T3) and 25.95 (S3T3) kilograms per rai, respectively.