To study the effect of planting density and umbel order on seed quality parameters in European carrot cv. Early Nantes

An investigation was carried out at experiment farm of Vegetable Research Station Kalpa (Kinnaur) of Department of Seed Science and Technology, Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan (HP) during the years 2020-21 and 2021-22 using European carrot cv. Early nantes. It included 16 treatments with four umbel orders (Retaining primary umbels (U1), Retaining secondary umbels (U2), Retaining tertiary umbels (U3) and Retaining all umbels (U4)) and four planting densities (45cm×30cm- 6 plants (D1), 45cm×15cm- 12 plants (D2), 30cm×30cm- 9 plants (D3) and 30cm×15cm- 18 plants (D4)) each replicated four times. Laboratory tests include 1000 seed weight (g), germination (%), SVI-I, SVI-II and accelerated ageing test. The results indicated that 45cm×30cm density (D1) with retention of primary umbels (U1) showed the highest 100 seed weight (1.76g) seed germination rates (87.12%), vigour Index-I (1310.60), vigour index-II (227.90) and germination after accelerated ageing test (67.12%), suggesting superior seed quality. Optimizing planting density and umbel management are critical for improving European carrot seed quality, with potential for further agronomic refinement in future research.