THE RESPONSE OF TWO GARLIC VARIETIES (ALLIUM SATVIUM L.) TO DIFFERENT PLANTING DATES IN THE ARID TROPICS OF NORTHERN SUDAN.

Abstract

Experiment over two seasons, at Hudeiba research station in the arid region of northernSudan, evaluated the effects of different planting dates and varieties on garlic bulb yield and quality attributes. Results indicated that early planting on 22nd. October gave the highest bulb yields of large bulbs averaged over the two seasons 8452, 6717, 5963 and 5202 kg/ha for the 22nd. October, 7th. November, 22nd. November and 7th. December, respectively. Yields decreased consistently with delayed planting. Comparing the newly developed variety, Hudeiba ?S? to the local one, there were no significant differences between them in yield capacity and both were comparable in their quality attributes. Results revealed that little improvement has been achieved by mass selection over the years during the development of the variety. They also suggest that chances fro garlic improvement might beenhanced through evaluating introduced genotypes from similar agroecolgical areas per se rather than selecting within already dominating genotypes where variability is usually narrow as a result of vegetative propagation.