Influence of sowing date and humic acid on fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.)

• Published in: Journal of applied research on medicinal and aromatic plants Vol. 16; p. 100234
• Main Authors: Beyzi, Erman, Gürbüz, Bilal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier GmbH 01.03.2020
• Subjects: Biological yield; Humic acid; Principal component analysis; Seed yield; Sowing date; Trigonella foenum-graecum; Trigonella foenum-graecum; Biological yield; Seed yield; Sowing date; Humic acid; Principal component analysis
• ISSN: 2214-7861; 2214-7861
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jarmap.2019.100234

[Display omitted] •The application of humic acid did not affect the seed yield of fenugreek.•Sowing dates were found to be significant in terms of seed yield.•It can be recommended that fenugreek should be sown between 1 March and 1 April.•PC1,2,3 accounted for 74.9 % and 84.9 % of total variance in two years, respectively.•In 2015, PC1,2 were most related to plant height and harvest index, respectively. In this study, the effects of different humic acid doses and different sowing dates on yield and morphological characteristics of fenugreek plants were investigated and evaluated by two factorial variance analysis and by PCA (principal component analysis). Experiments were conducted over the experimental fields of Erciyes University in Turkey during the summer growing season of the years 2014 and 2015 in randomized blocks – split plots experimental design with 4 replications to determine the effects of different humic acid doses and different sowing dates on yield and morphological characteristics of fenugreek plants. Four different sowing dates (1 March, 15 March, 1 April and 15 April) were placed in main plots and 3 different humic acid doses (control, 20, 40 and 60 l ha−1) were placed in sub-plots. Seed yield (kg ha−1), plant height (cm), thousand-seed weight (g), the first pod height (cm), number of branches per plant, pod length (cm), number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, biological yield (kg ha−1) and harvest index (%) were investigated. Our data revealed that humic acid treatments did not have significant effects on investigated parameters. However, sowing dates were found to be significant in terms of seed yield. Considering the seed yields of both year together, it can be recommended that fenugreek should be sown between 1 March and 1 April. According to PCA analysis, all humic acid doses during the 4th sowing period did not have a significant effect on yield in 2014 and 2015.