Agronomic practices with a special focus on transplanting methods for optimum growth and yield of enset [Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman] in Ethiopia

Abstract

Introduction -Transplanting enset suckers or plants is practiced by the majority of small-scale farmers across the enset-growing belt in Ethiopia. Enset suckers, obtained from a multiplication nursery, are first intensely managed in a small plot (one plant 0.5-1.0 m -2 ) from where plants are consecutively transplanted into ever more widely spaced arrangements with a final minimal spacing of one plant 2-4 m -2 . This review summarizes relevant information on transplanting methods from randomized controlled field trials and on-farm observations. Results and discussion -Transplanting frequency impacts the crop cycle duration and yield. Transplanting once results in plants with a higher growth rate and hence a shorter crop cycle, while more frequent transplanting results in higher yields per plant. For example, plants transplanted once were harvested at 2 years and yielded 27 kg dry matter (DM) plant -1 , while plants transplanted two or three times were both harvested at 4.5 years and yielded, respectively, 44 and 31 kg DM plant -1 . Conclusion -This review endeavours to help determine the enset transplanting methods that give optimum growth, biomass production and yield.

Enset‐based agricultural systems in Ethiopia: A systematic review of production trends, agronomy, processing and the wider food security applications of a neglected banana relative

“…Therefore, direct transplanting is advised when early yields are the objective, but more frequent transplanting will result in higher yields per plant (Tsegaye & Struik, ). Once equilibrium (planting = harvesting) has been achieved, annual yields will be higher for twice transplanted plants compared to once transplanted as this encourages greater partitioning of dry matter to the harvestable parts (Blomme, Jacobsen, Tawle, & Yemataw, ; Tsegaye, ). Systems involving up to five transplanting stages are used in some areas (J. Borrell, pers.…”

Smallholder farmers expand production area of the perennial crop enset as a climate coping strategy in a drought‐prone indigenous agrisystem

“…In our study, long‐term SPEI represents water availability of the previous 3 years. The extended period between long‐term drought (negative SPEI) and annual increase in enset production area in our model can be partially explained by the time constraints of enset growth and management, for it takes up to a year to propagate a mother plant to produce viable young plants, and then at least another year for young plants to mature to an extent that they take up space in the garden plot (Blomme et al, 2018; Tsegaye & Struik, 2002; Wondimu & Kebede, 2021). Furthermore, from a social perspective, this pattern corresponds well with resilience thinking and the adaptive cycle described by Fath et al (2015), in which a crisis (in this case drought over a number of years) is followed by phases of innovation (choosing to plant more enset), new growth and conservation of buffers against future shocks (maintenance of enset as food security).…”

Genetic Analysis of Qualitative and Quantitative Traits Among Progenies of Enset Clones Originated From Southern Ethiopia

“…The spacing was 3 m between plants and 4 m between rows planted on a 12 m x 9 m plot size having 16 plants per plot. All the management practices such as weeding, hoeing, mulching, watering, and fertilizer application were properly and uniformly applied to all plots using the recommended practices of enset cultivation as described in Blomme et al (2018) andBorell et al (2020).…”