Effect of Inter-Row and Intra-Row Plant Spacing on Phonological and Growth Parameters of Potato (<i>Solanum Tuberosum</i> L.) in Western Ethiopia Horo District

Plant distances (The distance between and inside rows of plants) is an important agronomic management tool for potatoes as it determines growth, yield, yield components, and quality of the crop in nature this crop is a high nutrient feeder which may lead to whether to increase or decreases the tuber yields. In certain places, however, the information is limited. So, to shed light on this issue, experiments were carried out to ascertain the ideal plant spacing between and within rows for gudane varieties of potatoes as well as how this affects growth, yield, yield components, and quality. A field experiment was conducted at the Horro district in western Ethiopia during the 2022/2023 cropping season. The experiment consists of four levels of inter-planting spacing (65cm, 70cm, 75cm, and 80cm) and three levels of intra-plant spacing (25cm, 30cm, and 35cm) that were laid out in a randomized complete block design in factorial arrangements with three replications. The result indicated that both the main and interaction effects of inter and intra-plant spacing were highly significantly (p < 0.001) influenced days to 50% flowering, 90% maturity date, plant height, number of stems per hill, and leaf area index (LAI). The study's findings indicate that greater plant distances (80cm × 35cm) was more advantageous for both phonological and growth parameters of potato crops.