EVALUATION OF PLANT SPACING ON SEED YIELD AND QUALITY OF Clitoria ternatea L. CV. TEHUANA

The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of plant spacing on Clitoria ternatea L. cv. Tehuana seed yield and quality. The experiment was carried out under rainfed conditions, from December 2006 to September 2007, at the Universidad del Papaloapan, Loma Bonita, Oaxaca, Mexico. Five plant distances (T1=broadcast, T2:25*25, T3:50*50, T4:75*75, and T5:100*100 cm between rows and plants, respectively) were tested. Treatments were distributed in a randomized complete design, with three replicates. Seed yield (SY), seed yield per plant (SYP), number of pods per plant, number of pods per m2, pod length, number of seeds per pod, 100-seed weight, and seed germination were evaluated. SY showed differences between treatments (P 0.05). It can concluded that the highest seed yield was obtained at the 25*25 cm spacing between rows and plants, respectively. Seed germination was not affected by any of the treatments evaluated.