Phenology and yield attributes of cape gooseberry as affected by plant density

The study was conducted to determine the ideal inter- and intra-row spacing of cape gooseberry to attain the optimum yield and yield components. The experiment was set in a completely randomized block design with three replications in two inter-row (0.75 m and 0.90 m) and two intra-row spacings (0.30 and 0.60m). Significant effect of inter- and intra-row spacing was recorded for plant height, flower initiation, days to maturity, fruit weight and yield. The tallest (1.15 m) plants were observed at0.75X0.30 m spacing while plants were short in height at wider spacing. Further heat units required by cape gooseberry for maturity under sub tropics varied from 2034.7 to 2146.3. Correlation analysis indicated that plant height had significant negative correlation with yield and yield components such as fruit number but significantly positively correlated with ascorbic acid and carotenoids. The highest fruit yield (0.587 kg per plant) was obtained at interaction of 0.75 ×0.60 m spacing, while the lowest (0.133 kg per plant) was obtained from 0.75 ×0.30 m spacing. Thus, it may be concluded that 0.75 ×0.60 m spacing is optimum for cape gooseberry cultivation under sub tropics.