Influence of plant spacing on essential oil content of lavender (Lavandula officinalis) on southern slopes of Kashmir Valley Farooq Saima*, Gangoo S.A., Sultan Asma, Rafiq Nida, Bilal Tuybia, Ayoob Bilkees Faculty of Forestry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Benhama, Ganderbal191201, Jammu & Kashmir, India *Corresponding author e-mail: saimafarooq623@gmail.com
Online Published on 16 August, 2022. Abstract A field study was carried out during at SKUAST Kashmir, India in order to investigate the impact of spacing on yield of lavender (Lavandula officinalis) oil content. The experiment consisted of 3 treatments laid out in factorial randomized block design with 6 replications. Lavender plants were planted in 3 contours having 1m vertical distance at 3 different spacing between plants i.e., 0.5 m × 0.5 m, 0.5 m × 1.0 m & 0.5 m × 1.5 m spacing. The plants were harvested when they were in full bloom and all spikes from the plants were harvested. The oil was extracted by hydro-distillation process in a Clevenger apparatus and the oil content from flower spikes at different spacing and oil yield (L ha−1) was recorded. The results after experimentation revealed that flowers being economically important part yielded maximum essential oil 11.75 ml from 80.79 grams of flower spikes when lavender plants were planted at a spacing of 0.5 m x 0.5 m. Similarly plants planted at a distance of 0.5 m × 1.5 m yielded minimum essential oil content of 7.70 ml obtained from 74.64 grams of flower spikes when planted at spacing of 0.5 m × 1.5 m. Based on this experiment, it was also revealed that maximum yield of lavender oil viz., 117.50 L/ha was found when lavender plants were planted at spacing of 0.5 m × 0.5 m and minimum yield of lavender oil (77.00 L/ha) was achieved when planted at spacing of 0.5 m × 1.5 m. The results clearly revealed that spacing has a significant effect on growth and yield of lavender oil and maximum lavender oil was obtained from closer spacing as compared to wider spacing under Kashmir condition. Top Keywords Lavender, Spacing, Oil, Lavender oil. Top |