Effect of irrigation interval and harvesting time on agro -morphological traits of anise (Pimpinella anisum L.)

In order to investigate the effect of irrigation interval and harvesting time on agro-morphological traits of anise (Pimpinella anisum L.) a field experiment was conducted at College of Agriculture, University of Zanjan in the spring of 2011. The experiment was conducted as split plot based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. Main Factor was irrigation interval at three levels including every 7, 12 and 17 days irrigation and three harvesting times including harvesting at soft dough (waxy), hard dough and full maturity stages were assigned to the sub plots. The results indicated that the effect of irrigation intervals on majority of measured traits including number of umbrella in plant, number of seeds in main branch umbellet, number of seeds in sub branch umbellet, number of sub­-­branches in plant, number of umbellets in main branch umbrella, plant height, grain yield and biomass was significant. Majority of measured traits significantly decreased with increment in irrigation interval from 7 to 17 days. So, the highest biomass (1845.89 kg.ha-1) and grain yield (636.07 kg.ha-1) were obtained in 7 days irrigation interval and the lowest amount of the mentioned traits was observed in 17 days irrigation interval. Harvesting time had significant effect on some of traits including number of seeds in sub­-branch umbellet, biomass and grain yield. With delay in harvesting time from hard dough to full maturity stage, number of seeds in sub­-­branch umbellet, biomass and grain yield decreased, significantly. So, the highest biomass (1474.33 kg.ha-1) and grain yield (474.15 kg.ha-1) were obtained in hard dough stage and the lowest amount of the mentioned traits were obtained in soft dough stage.