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ABSTRACT: A research trail was carried out to elucidate the effect of plant spacing on the profitable yield of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) at the Horticultural Research Area of Faculty of Agriculture, Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan during 2009. The experiment was laid out in RCBD with five treatments/plant spacing (30x10, 30x20, 30x30, 30x40 and 30x50cm^sup 2^) and each treatment was replicated thrice. Plant spacing 30x50cm^sup 2^ have evidenced significant findings for almost all the parameters, as it took significantly least days taken to sprouting (82.00), maximum plant height (67.73 cm), number of leaves per plant (8.0), leaf length (35.22 cm), leaf diameter (9.917 cm), stem per plant (5.66), number of finger per plant (15.67), finger length (5.367 cm), finger weight (76.10 gm), diameter of finger (4.220 mm) and turmeric yield (2184 kg ha^sup -1^). Thus it is concluded that a wider plant spacing of 30x50cm^sup 2^ would be more beneficial for the commercial production of turmeric (Curcuma longa L), especially under the agro-climatic condition of Dera Ismail Khan.
Key words: Plant spacing, sprouting, turmeric yield, commercial.
INTRODUCTION
Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) like ginger belongs to the family Zingiberaceae. This plant is native to tropical South Asian region e.g. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc. Turmeric plants are gathered annually for their rhizomes and re-seeded from some of those rhizomes in the following season (Anonymous, 2010). Turmeric can be grown under diverse tropical conditions with altitudes ranging from sea level to 1500m above sea level (Rema and Madan, 2001). It requires well drained sandy or clay loam soil and temperature ranging between 20-30°C with annual rainfall of 1500 mm or more (Olojede et al., 2005). It requires 2 years, minimum tillage, beds of 15cm height with 50 cm spacing between bed (Gill et al, 2004) and requires 2500 Kg rhizomes per acre (Chan et al., 2009). Planting is done either on raised beds or on ridges during March-April, under organic conditions as it requires 5-6 tons/hectare FYM. Its varieties are matures at different times ranging from 7-9 months. Its average yield is 20-25 tons of green turmeric (Filho et al., 2004). It produces tall, very beautiful, white flower spikes, if clumps are left undisturbed for a year. The flower is so attractive that...