PLANT DENSITY AND

CROP PRODUCTIVITY;
PLANT AND
ENVIRONMENTAL
FACTORS, YIELD AND
PLANT DISTRIBUTION
Rachna Rana
(A-2011-40-001)
Department of Agronomy, Forages and
Grassland Management.
College of Agriculture
CSK HPKV
INTRODUCTION: PLANT POPULATION OR PLANT
DENSITY
 Plant population may be defined as the number of
plants per unit area n the cropped field, which
determines the size of the area available to the
individual plant.
 The spatial arrangement defines the distribution
pattern of plants over the ground, which determines the
shape of the area available to the individual plant.
 The spatial arrangement can be defined by
rectangularity, which is the ratio of the inter-row
spacing to the intra-row spacing.
 Plant spacing depends on the geometry of individual
plants in a community and should be so determined that
crop plants do not face an acute competition for light,
nutrients, water, air, space at any time of their duration.
 Yield of a crop is the result of final plant population which
depends on the no. of viable seeds, germination per cent
and survival rates.
 Establishment of optimum plant population is essential to
get maximum yield.
 Optimum plant population is the number of plants
required to produce maximum output or biomass per unit
area.
 The arrangement of plants in different rows and columns
in an area to efficiently utilize the natural resources is
called crop geometry.
 YIELD OF INDIVIDUAL PLANTS AND
COMMUNITY

The full yield potential of individual plant is achieved when

sown at wider spacing.
 When sown densely, competition among plants is more
for growth factors resulting in reduction in size and yield of
the plant.
 Yield per plant decreases gradually as plant population
per unit area is increased
 Maximum yield per unit area, therefore, be obtained
when the individual plants are subjected to severe
competition.
YIELD OF INDIVIDUAL PLANT AND
COMMUNITY AS INFLUENCED BY PLANT
POPULATION
 EFFECT OF PLANT POPULATION (DENSITY) ON
CROP

 Under rainfed conditions, high plant population will deplete

the soil moisture before maturity, whereas low plant
population will leave the soil moisture unutilized.
 When soil moisture and nutrients are not limited, high plant
population is necessary to utilize the other resources like
solar radiation efficiently.
 Under low plant population, individual plant yield will be more
due to wide spacing.
 Under high plant population, individual plant yield will be low
due to narrow spacing leading to competition for light, plant
height may be markedly increased.
 There will be more chances of lodging of crop at high
density, which may decrease protein and oil content.
 Widely spaced plants usually have circular root
distribution as against inter-penetrated root growth at
high plant population (narrow spaced plants).
 Yield per plant decreases gradually as plant population
per unit area is increased, but yield per unit area
increases up to certain level of population (optimum
density).
 To get maximum yield per unit area, optimum plant
population is necessary. Hence, optimum plant
population for each crop should be worked out for
maximum yield.
 EFFECT OF PLANT POPULATION ON GROWTH
 High plant density brings out certain modifications in the
growth of plants.
 Plant height increases with increase in plant population
due to competition for light and it is advantageous for
better light interception due to explore of individual leaves
at wider vertical interval.
 Dense plant stand results in reduction in leaf thickness,
altered leaf orientation, leaves become erect, narrow and
are arranged at longer vertical intervals which is a
desirable architecture to intercept more light.
 Dry matter production per unit area increases with increase
in plant population up to a limit when the reduction in the
growth of a plant is more than compensated by increase in
the number of plants per unit area.
 EFFECT OF PLANT POPULATION ON YIELD
 Determinate plants: Decrease in yield at higher density is
due to reduction in the number of ears.
Pigeon pea produces about 20 pods per plant at 3.33
lakhs per hectare while it produces more than 100 pods
per plant at 50,000 plants per hectare.
 Indeterminate plants: Decrease in yield at higher density
is due to reduced size of ears or panicles.
Non-tillering or non-branching plants produce fewer
yields due to reduction in size of earsas in case of maize
and sorghum.
 Plants having profuse branching or tillering behave as
indeterminate plants and yield reduction is due to
reduction in number of seeds.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PLANT POPULATION
AND YIELD

Holliday (1960) suggested two types of response curves:

 
1. The Asymptotic Relationship
2. The Parabolic Relationship
The Asymptotic Relationship
 When yield is the product of vegetative crop growth, the
density-yield relationship is asymptotic. Eg fodder crops
and tobacco
 With increase in density, yield rises to a maximum and then
relatively constant at high densities. Further increases in
plant density above this maximum do not increase the yield.
 Therefore, dense stands are recommended to get
maximum yield in fodder crops.
 Dense stands provides lean stems and more leafy fodder
compared to sparse population.
 This type of response gives asymptotic curve, which is
expressed as below:

Where,
y = dry matter yield per unit area,
A = the apparent maximum yield per plant,
p = number of plants per unit area, and
b = the linear regression coefficient of the reciprocal of
yield per plant and plant population
 The term 1/(1+Abx) represents the manner in which the
maximum plant yield (A) is reduced by the increasing
competition resulting from greater plant density. It may be
termed the competition function.
 The Parabolic Relationship
 Parabolic curve is used to describe plant population and
yield relationship when the economic yield is a fraction of
the total dry matter.
 Yield increases with increase in plant population, and then
reaches a maximum. However, unlike in asymptotic curve,
yield decreases with further increase in population.
 Holliday (1960) suggested that the curve can be fitted to the
quadratic equation.

Y = a + bp + cp2
 
Where,
Y = yield per unit area
p = plant population, and
a, b and c = regression coefficients
DIAGRAMMATIC REPRESENTATION OF
ASYMPTOTIC AND PARABOLIC RESPONSE
 FACTORS AFFECTING PLANT POPULATION
AND YIELD

1. Plant Factors Affecting Population Density

 Size of Plant :

 Plant size (leaf area) determines the number of plants

required to develop optimum LAI for higher yield.
 At low planting density, crop canopy is open and LAI is low.
Under such conditions leaf size should be large. However,
when the crop canopy is closed, the LAI is high, then small
leaves are desirable. Generally, bigger the plant size lesser
will be the plant population for optimum yield.
 Plants of red gram, cotton, sugarcane etc. occupy larger
volume of space in the field compared to plants of wheat,
rice, finger millet etc.
 Elasticity of Plant :
 Variation in size of plant between the maximum size of
the plant that can produce some economic yield to the
maximum size the plant that can reach under unlimited
space and resources is the elasticity of the plant.
 Elasticity of growth and yield characters of plants are
higher in indeterminate and long duration crops.
 The elasticity is due to tillering and branching habit of
plants
 Soil Cover:
 The crop should cover the soil as early as possible so as
to intercept maximum sunlight. The intercepted solar
radiation and dry matter production are directly related.
 Closely spaced crops intercept more solar radiation than
wide spaced crops.
 Dry Matter Partitioning:
 Dry matter production is related to the amount of solar
radiation intercepted by the canopy.
 As plant density increases, the canopy expands more
rapidly, more radiation is intercepted and more dry matter
produced.
 Lodging:
 Increased crop stand causes plants and stems to
become smaller, weaker and often taller leading to pre-
mature lodging of the crop.
 Cereals and millets are more susceptible to lodging at
high population densities. Lodging after flowering leads to
heavy loss in cereals.
 Tillering:
 All the cereals show the ability to compensate for low
plant population by producing more tillers.
 Consequently, grain yield may be unaffected by seed
rates over a wide range.
 Similarly, crops such cotton, pigeon pea, safflower and
other intermediate crops can compensate for low plant
population by developing more number of branches per
plant.
 Tiller or branches per plant can be manipulated by
fertilizer application, provided there are a reasonable
number of plants at branching or tillering.
 
 2. Environmental Factors Affecting Plant Density
 Primary environmental factors influencing plant density for
higher yield are solar radiation, moisture and nutrient supply.
 Limitations of these environmental factors lower the
optimum plant density for maximum yield.
 Sowing/ Planting Time:
 Among the weather factors, the most important factors that
influence optimum plant population are day length and
temperature.
 Optimum plant population for kharif sown pigeon pea is
55000 plants/ha which increased to 3.33 lakh plants/ha for
rabi crop
 Irrigation:
 Plant population has to be less under rainfed than
irrigated condition.
 Under more plant densities, more water is lost through
transpiration.
 Under adequate rainfall/ irrigated condition, high plant
population is recommended.
 Fertilizer Application:
 Higher plant population is necessary in fertile soils in
order to utilize higher level of nutrients for realization of
maximum yields.
 Nutrient uptake increases with an increase in plant
population.
 High population under low fertility soil leads to nutrient
deficiency symptoms leading to low yields.
 Seed rate:
 Quantity of seed sown/unit area, viability and
establishment rate decides the plant population.
 Under broadcasting, the seed rate is higher when
compared with line sowing and transplanting.
 The required number of plants/unit area is decided by
optimum seed rate. The seed rate depends on methods
of sowing, spacing, test weight and germination
percentage. It can be calculated as:
Seed rate (kg/ha) = 100 T /P x R X 100/pp x g
Where,
T=test weight (g)
P= spacing between plants and within rows (cm)
R=between rows (cm)
pp=purity percentage g= germination percentage
 Planting Pattern:
 It influences crop yield through its influence on light
interception, rooting pattern and moisture extraction
pattern.
 Square Planting:
 More efficient in the utilization of light, water and nutrients
available to the individual plants.
 Rectangular Planting:
 It is adopted mainly to facilitate inter cultivation.
 Thinning:
 In certain situations where germination and emergence is
a problem, high seed rate is used. Thinning is needed to
obtain optimum plant population.
3. Crop Geometry and planting system
 Crop geometry or planting pattern influences crop yield
through its influence on light interception, rooting pattern
and moisture extraction pattern.
 Square Arrangement:

 Square arrangement of plants is more efficient in the

utilization of light, water and nutrients available to the
individual plants than in a rectangular arrangement.
 For wheat, Holliday (1963) has shown that decreasing
row width below 15 to 20 cm (reducing rectangularity),
generally increased yield slightly, while increasing row
widths has a depressing effect on yields.
 Rectangular Arrangement:
 Sowing the crop with seed drill is the standard practice of
stand establishment.
 Wider inter-row spacing and closer intra-row (plant)
spacing is very common for most of the crops, thus
attaining rectangularity.
 This rectangular arrangement is adopted mainly to
facilitate inter cultural operations.
Different types of rectangular methods are:
 Solid row: Each row will have no proper spacing between
the plants, followed for annual crops, definite row
arrangement but no column arrangement.
 Paired row arrangement: If a crop requires 60 cm x 30
cm spacing and if paired row is to be adopted the spacing
is altered to 90 cm instead of 60 cm in order to
accommodate an intercrop.
 Skip row: A row of planting is skipped and hence there is
reduction in population, reduction can be compensated by
planting an intercrop, practiced in dry land agriculture.
 Triangular method of planting: recommended for widely
spaced crops like fruits and other tree plantation. The
number of plants per unit area is more in this system.
 Row direction:
 Due to minimum solar radiation in rainy season and mutual
shading, the concept of row direction has been developed.
 Maize when planted in N-S direction produced higher yield
than when planted in E-W direction.
 Gap filling and Re-sowing:
 The gaps exists in the rows of crops due to poor quality of
seeds, ack of moisture, shallow or deep placement of
seeds, crust formation on the surface of soil. This requires
gap filling to maintain proper plant population.
 After cultivation care:
 Important cultural operations carried out after the crop
establishment include hand weeding, hoeing, earthing-up,
de-trashing and propping in sugarcane, topping and de-
suckering in tobacco.
 Miscellaneous Planting Arrangement :
 Crops are sown with seed drills in two directions to
accommodate more number of plants and mainly to
reduce weed population.
 Crops like rice, finger millet are transplanted at the rate of
2-3 seedlings per hill. Transplanting is done either in rows
or randomly.
THANKS