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Spacing is one of the factors that are known to affect yield and yield components of garlic like bulb yield per hectare, bulb diameter, bulb weight, clove number, clove size and other yield contributing characters. This gives a window of opportunity to manipulate the planting distribution or pattern in such a away that the desired size of garlic bulb is attained.This work was intended to investigate response of growth parameters, yield and yield components to inter and intra row spacing (population density) and varieties of garlic and to determine the optimum population density for maximum yield per unit area. This experiment indicated that, increasing population density had significant effect on growth parameters on per plant and per unit area basis. The yield and yield components per unit area were maximized at 30 cm inter-row and 5 cm intra-row spacing, which were the maximum population density of garlic plant in the study. However, bulb yield per plant (weight), and bulb diameter, maximized at lower planting density.

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Elzabeth Girma obtained her MSc in Horticulture at University of Hawassa, Ethiopia. She is currently working with UNICEF Ethiopia. She is a member of Ethiopian Biological society. Her research interests are primarily in the areas of improving vegetable and medicinal plants yield and conducting outreach to farmers on the results obtained.

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