




































 

 

 
1 

† Corresponding author 
© 2016 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 

 

EFFECT OF INTRA SPACING ON YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS OF 
CARROT (DAUCUS CARROTA L.SUB SP. SATIVUS) 

 

Tadele Shiberu1† --- Selomon Tamiru2 
1Department of Plant Sciences, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences, Ambo University, Ethiopia 

 

ABSTRACT 

The experiment was conducted in 2014 cropping seasons to study the effect of intra row spacing on yield 

and yield components of carrot. The crop was grown in July to October (105 days) with five treatments (5, 

7.5, 10, 12.5 and 15 cm) in randomized complete block design with three replications. Root length, leaf 

fresh weight, root fresh weight, and root diameter weight were significantly different among treatments. 

The maximum root length (20.3 cm), root diameter (59.67 mm), root fresh weight (182. 33g plant-1) and 

fresh leave weight (129.67 g plant-1) were found in 15 cm spacing, whereas the highest total root yield per 

hectare was found in treatment 5 and 7.5cm; 55.15, and 54.75 ton, respectively.  

Keywords: Daucus carrota, Spacing, Intra Row, Weight, Yield, Yield component. 

 

Contribution/ Originality 

The paper's primary contribution is finding that to study the effect of intra row spacing on 

yield and yield components of carrot on field. Then develop a correct intra row spacing to address 

the issues for carrot growers in Western Shawa of Ethiopia. The input gathered at this study 

provided an important perspective on the carrot intra row spacing and techniques used on the 

field. 

 

1. INTRODUCTION 

Carrot (Daucuscarota  L.  ssp.sativus(Hoffm.) originates from  the wild  forms  growing  in 

Europe and southwestern Asia [1]. Root crops covered more than 1.42% of the area under all 

crops and contributed 6.15% to the production of all crops total in the country among of these 

carrot is considered as one of the important vegetable crops roduced on small scale in Ethiopia. It 

also occupies an economically important place among vegetables in the country. A total of 

13,550.2 tones of production under irrigation and rain fed by the peasant holders, contributing 

about 0.81% to the total country level all vegetable crops Production [2]. 

Current Research in Agricultural Sciences 
2016 Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 1-6 
ISSN(e): 2312-6418 
ISSN(p): 2313-3716 
DOI: 10.18488/journal.68/2016.3.1/68.1.1.6 
© 2016 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 

 
 
 
 
 
 

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Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2016, 3(1): 1-6 

 

 
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© 2016 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 

The area under carrot is increasing from time to time mainly due to its ease of production, 

and the increases in small scale rain fed and irrigation areas. In many areas of the country, the 

rain fed season constitutes much of the area under carrot production. Despite areas increase, the 

productivity of carrot production is much lower than other African countries. The low 

productivity could be attributed to poor cultural practices including plant to plant spacing.  

Sugar and volatile terpenoids are the two major components of carrot flavor; glucose, 

fructose and sucrose which make up more than 95% of the free sugars and 40% to 60% of the 

stored carbohydrates in the carrot root [3]. It also contains high amount of carotene (10 mg/100 

g), thiamin (0.04 mg/100 g), riboflavin (0.05 mg/100 g) and also serves as a source of 

carbohydrate, protein, fat, minerals, vitamin-C and calories [4]. The ratio of sucrose to reducing 

sugar increases with root maturity but decreases following harvest and during cold storage. 

Blindness in children for the severe Vitamin-A deficiency is a problem of public health in some 

countries, particularly in the rice dependent countries of Asia [5]. Hence, carrot (rich in Vitamin-

A) may contribute a lot of Vitamin-A to overcome this situation in Ethiopia.Plant spacing is one 

of the important factors for the increased production of carrot. Pavlek [6] Lipari and McCollum, 

et al. [7] reported that there is a positive correlation between the number of plants and yield of 

carrot. But many workers reported that different plant densities of spacing have different effect 

for the marketable yield of carrot [8, 9]. To increase the importance and yield production of 

carrot during the period of growing season may play a critical role. Also quality and size of the 

roots depends on the spacing plant to plant and row to row under Ethiopian condition. There is 

also a significant interaction between plant spacing and size of carrot. Hence, the present study 

was under taken to found optimum spacing for better growth of carrot yield and yield 

components. 

 

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 

2.1. Description of the Study Area 

The study was conducted under field condition in rain fed from July to October 2014 at 

Ambo University, Ethiopia. Ambo University is 112 km far away to the west from Addis Ababa, 

having an altitude of 2287 meter above sea level, latitude of 08°7`0`` North and longitude of 

38°7`0``East. The mean maximum and minimum temperature of the field was 21 1+2°C and 

14.8+2°C, respectively, during the study period. 

 

2.2. Treatment and Experimental Design 

The experiment was laid out in Randomized Compete Block Design (RCBD) with three 

replications. It was conducted to evaluate intra row (Plant-to-plant) spacing effects on yield and 

yield components of carrot. The following five treatments of plant-to-plant with constant 30 cm 

between raw to raw distances were evaluated.  

T1= 5cm   T4= 12.5cm 

T2 = 7.5cm  T5= 15 cm 



Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2016, 3(1): 1-6 

 

 
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© 2016 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 

T3= 10 cm    

 

2.3. Data Collection 

Growth parameters were recorded from five randomly selected plants from each plot until 

the crop was harvested. Plants in each plot was used to count number of leaves per plant, weight 

of fresh leaves per plant, root length, diameter of root, weight of fresh roots, percentage of 

branched root and percentage of cracking roots were calculated. Yields from all plots were taken 

and weighed to determine plants response from plant to plant spacing.  

 

2.4. Data Analysis 

The recorded data on different growth parameters and yield parameters were calculated for 

statistical analysis. Analyses of variances (ANOVA) for most of the characters under 

consideration were performed with the help of SAS version 9 program. Treatment means were 

separated by Duncane's Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 1% level of significance for 

interpretation of the results. 

 

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 

3.1. Diameter of Root 

The diameter of carrot roots was measured during harvesting period; it was showed that 

significant differences were observed between intra spacing on size of diameter (Table 1). At 

spacing of 15 cm between plant to plant was showed the highest diameter (59.67 mm), while the 

other treatments almost no significant effect on root diameter during the study period.  

 

3.2. Growth Parameter 

Significance differences were observed in intra row spacing with regard to root length and 

diameter per plant (Table 1). Increasing intra row spacing resulted in increased length of plants 

and diameter. Regards to number of leaves per plant showed non-significant differences were 

found except intra row spacing (15cm between plants), it showed that better leaf number as 

compared to other treatments (Table 1).  

 

3.3. Root Length 

The root length of carrot was significantly influenced by intra row spacing (Table 1). The 

longest root (20.3cm) was observed from the plants spacing 15cm which was significantly 

different from other treatments. The shortest root length was recorded (11.57 cm) was found 

from the plants spaced 5cm. This result revealed that the root length gradually increased when 

increasing intra row spacing. The present results supported Rashid and Shakur [10].  

 

 

 



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3.4. Weight of Fresh Leaves  

Weight of fresh leaves per plant showed that significantly (P<0.01) different due to different 

intra row spacing (Table 2). The weight of fresh leaves varied from 21.33 to 129.67 g/plant. The 

maximum leaf fresh weight (129.67g) was obtained from the plants when grown on 15cm intra 

row spacing. The minimum fresh weight of leaves (21.33 g) was observed when grown on 7.5cm 

intra row spacing. Results revealed that the weight of fresh leaf gradually increased from 5cm  to 

15cm intra row spacing with constant inter row spacing (30 cm). 

 

Table-1. Effect of intra row spacing on number of leaves, length and diameter of root/plant 

Treatments 
(cm) 

No. of Leaves/plant Length of plant  
           (cm) 

Diameter of plant  
       (mm) 

5            8.60b           11.57c           36.13b 
7.5            10.07b           14.8bc           40.33b 
10            9.67b           15.5bc           43.33ab 
12.5           11.07b           18.67ab           50.17ab 
15            15.2a           20.3a           59.67a 
MSE           1.22           1.74           6.35 
LSD (at .01)           3.34           4.76           17.39 
CV (%)           11.18           10.74           13.82 

Note:Means of treatment set followed by unlike letter(s) are significantly difference  

 

There was a significant difference among the different spacing of carrot production in respect 

of root length. 

 

3.5. Weight of Fresh Roots  

Weight of fresh roots presented in (Table 2) indicted that significant (P<0.01) differences 

were observed among the treatments during the study period. The highest fresh root weight per 

plant 73.33 and 182.33 g were recorded from the plants at spacing 5cm and 15cm, respectively. 

The highest intra row spacing could not provide the highest yield per hectare, but it gave the 

highest root yield per plant, as a result 5 to 10cm intra row spacing gave the better fresh weight 

of root per hectare. Therefore, different intra spacing for carrot production was found to have 

significant effect on fresh root weight per hectare as well as per plant. From this experiment we 

observed that when the number of plant to plant spacing increased the wight of root yield also 

increased, but yield per hectare relatively decreased (fig. 1 and table 2). The maximum fresh root 

weight (55.15 ton) and (54.75 ton) per hectare was obtained from the plants grown at the spacing 

of 30 X 5cm and 30 X 7.5cm, respectively, which was significantly differed from others. The 

minimum fresh root weight (45.77) was obtained from the plants grown at the spacing of 30 X 

12.5cm. The result was agreed with the work of Ashraful, et al. [3]. 

 

 

 



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© 2016 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 

Table-2. Effect of yield per hectare and per plant intra row spacing on total weight, fresh leaves, fresh root and root 

weight 

Treatments 
     (cm) 

Total mean weight 
(g/plant) 

Weight of fresh leaves   
(g/plant) 

Root  weight (t/ha) 

       5       96.00e       22.67cd         55.12a 
       7.5       117.66d       21.33d         54.75ab 
       10       165.34c       37.67c         49.15abc 
       12.5      218.00b       78.00b         45.77c 
       15       312.00a       129.67a         49.02bc 
MSE      4.87       5.95         2.18 
LSD (at .01)      13.33       16.32         5.90 

CV (%)      2.67       10.29         4.30 

Note: Means of treatment set followed by unlike letter(s) are significantly difference  

 

 

Figure-1. Effect of intra raw spacing on weight root yield of carrot per plant 

 

3.6. Percentage of Branched Root 

The smallest spacing gave minimum percentage of breached root. This might be caused by 

competition of nutrients. The mean value of branched percentage with the treatments varied 

significantly different. It ranged from 0.33% to 8.33%. The minimum percentage (0.33%) of 

branched root was observed to the plants planted at the spacing of 5cm x 30cm (T1) and the 

maximum percentage (0.33%) of branched root was obtained at the spacing of 15cm x 30cm (T5). 

This might be caused by low competition of nutrients helps in development, branched and 

vigorous growth of carrot root. The result revealed that the smallest spacing (T1) gave minimum 

branched root percentage and maximum branched percentage was found from the highest spacing 

(T5) i.e when number of spacing from plant to plant increased at constant row spacing (30 cm) 

percentage of branching also increased and vice-versa.  

 

3.7. Percentage of Cracking Root  

The percentage of cracking root was varied significantly among the five treatments). The 

minimum cracking percentage (2.72%) was obtained from 5cm x 30cm (T1) it gave a small 



Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2016, 3(1): 1-6 

 

 
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© 2016 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 

amount of cracking roots. But the highest spacing plant planted gave maximum percentage of 

cracking root which was 12.67% was obtained from 15cm x 30cm (T2). This might be caused by 

low competition of nutrients helps in development and vigorous growth of carrot root.  

 

4. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS  

Increasing intra raw spacing (15 cm) significantly increased the root length, weight of fresh 

leaves/plant, and total weight/plant of carrot; but, significantly increased marketable yield per 

hectare at spacing of 5 and 7.5cm. Even though intra row spacing played a significant role in the 

productivity of carrot DaucuscarotaL.), and recommendations can be made 5 to 7.5cm between 

plant to plant at 30 cm constant row to row spacing. 

 

REFERENCES 

[1] O. Banga, Carrot. In: Simmonds, N.W. (Ed.). Evolution of crop plants, 3th ed. London: Longman, 1984. 

[2] CSA, "Report of federal democratic Republic of Ethiopia," Statistical Report on Socio-Economic 

Characteristics of the Population in Agricultu ral Households, Land Use, Area and Production of 

Crops. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2012. 

[3] K. Ashraful, A. Arfan, and M. H. Waliullah, "Effect of spacing and sowing time on growthand yield 

of carrot daucus carrota L," Inter. J. Sust. Agri., vol. 5, pp. 29-36, 2013. 

[4] K. S. Yawalker, Vegetable crops in India, 3rd ed. vol. 52. Bajaj Nagar-440010: Mrs. KK. Yawalker, 

Agri-Horticultural Publishing House, 1985. 

 [5] J. A. Woolfe, Nutrition aspects of sweet potato roots and leaves. Improvement of sweet potato ipomea 

batatas. Asia: CIP, 1989. 

[6] P. Pavlek, "Effect of plant density on carrot yield," Plojprivredna Znanstvena Smotra, vol. 42, pp. 67-

73, 1977. 

[7] T. G. McCollum, S. J. Locascio, and J. M. White, "Plant density and row arrangement effects on 

carrot yields," J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci., vol. 111, pp. 648-651, 1986. 

[8] S. Dragland, "Plant density and row spacing in carrots," Forskning of Forsiki Landbruket, vol. 37, 

pp. 139-145, 1986. 

[9] I. C. C. Nogueira, F. C. Nogueira, and M. Z. D. Negreiros, "Effect of plant spacing on yield of 

carrot (Daucus Carota L) cv. kuroda nocional," Proc. Trop. Reg. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci., vol. 25, pp. 

125-127, 1982. 

[10] M. Rashid and M. A. Shakur, "Effect of date of planting and duration of growing period on the 

yield of carrot," Bangladesh Horticulture, vol. 14, pp. 28-32, 1986. 

 

 

 

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