Effect of Shoot Pruning and In-row Spacing on Yield and Fruit Size of Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) at Gode, South Eastern Ethiopia

Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is a cultivated herb of solanaceae family, which is related to tomato, pepper and Irish potato. A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of spacing and shoot pruning on yield and fruit size of Black Beauty variety, at Gode, South Eastern Ethiopia. The treatments were a 4 X 4 factorial combinations of four in-row plant spacing (30 cm, 40cm, 50cm and 60cm), and four levels shoot pruning (no pruning, pruning to 2 stem, pruning to 3 stem, and pruning to 4 stem) arranged in a Completely Randomized Block design with three replications. The highest large sized weight fruits was obtained from all plants at in-row spacing of 50 or 60cm, irrespective of the pruning level, while very large size was obtained from 2 stem pruning at 60cm in-row spacing, although it was not statistically different from the values registered from 3 and 4 stem pruning at 50 or 60cm in-row spacing. Pruning to 4 stem and zero pruning at 50cm in-row spacing resulted significantly (p<0.01) highest marketable and total fruit yield per hectare, while the highest unmarketable fruit yield was obtained from unpruned plants at 30cm spacing. The result showed that pruning to 4 stem at in-row spacing of 50cm is optimal to maximize marketable fruit yields in combination with better fruit size. If pruning over costs the benefits which could be obtained from better fruit size, 50 cm in-row spacing without pruning can be employed for similar higher yield.