Effect of Planting Times on the Yield and Quality of Fenugreek (Trigonella Foenum-Graecum L.) Under the Conditions of Kahramanmaraş

Abstract

This study was performed in the 2013-2014 cultivation season with the purpose of determining the most suitable planting season of fenugreek under the ecological conditions of Kahramanmaraş. The trial was established in two different cultivation periods as winter and spring at the Eastern Mediterranean Transition Zone Agricultural Research Station in according to factorial randomized block design with three replications. In the study, the Gürarslan fenugreek variety as well as Candicate Line-1 and Genotype-1 fenugreek genotypes were used as material. In the study, features such as plant height, first pod height, number of branches per plant, pod length, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, seed yield per plant, seed yield per decare, thousand seed weight, mucilage rate, fixed oil ratio, fixed oil yield, crude protein ratio, humidity, raw ash ratio, and the rates of linoleic acid, alpha linoleic acid, oleic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid as important fatty acids were studied. Variance analysis made on the data obtained by using SPSS statistical package program. In the comparison of the means, Duncan multiple comparison test was used. As a result, in this study, was found that in the region where the study was performed, the most suitable planting season for fenugreek cultivators is the winter planting dated winter planting when the highest values of plant height, number of pods per plant, seed yield per plant were obtained. From the features studied in the research the difference between genotypes was found significant only from the perspective of seed yield per plant and fixed oil ratio. While the best results were obtained from Genotype-1 for seed yield per plant, the best results for fixed oil yield were obtained from Candicate Line-1.