Influence of Plant Population Density on Growth and Yield of Stevia (Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni L.)

Objective: An experiment was conducted at Wondo Genet Agricultural Research Center in the production season of 2013/14 and 2014/15 with the objective of identifying the best combination of intra and inter-row spacing for optimum plant population density of stevia. Methods: The experiment was conducted using five intra-row spacing (20cm, 25cm, 30cm, 35cm, and 40cm) and three inter-row spacing (40cm, 50cm and 60cm) with total treatment combination of fifteen that were laid out in factorial RCBD design with three replications. In 2013/14 cropping season the maximum fresh leaf weight (19467kg ha-1), fresh above-ground biomass (25002kg ha-1) and dry leaf weigh (7834kg ha-1) were obtained from the combined pacing of 20cm intra-row and 40cm inter-row spacing. In 2014/15 cropping season, the maximum fresh leaf weight (16470.1 kg ha-1) and (14433.9kg ha-1),  fresh above-ground biomass (27547kg ha-1) and (23619.8kg ha-1)  and dry leaf weight (4773.7 kg ha-1) and (4314.0 kg ha-1) were obtained from 20cm intra-row and 40cm inter-row spacing respectively. Results: Although the study showed that the highest Stevia herbage yield per unit area was recorded from the combined spacing of 20cm intra-row and 40cm inter-row spacing, considering the difficult condition we met during weeding and watering, we, therefore; suggest that the best combined intra-row and inter-row spacing for Stevia is 25cm x 40cm to attain maximum yield under appropriate management conditions at Wondo genet and similar locations.