Impact of Spacing and Type of Planting Material on Dry Matter Percentage in Cinnamon Bark: At the Stage of First Harvest

Abstract

Cinnamomum verum J. Presl (cinnamon), is an evergreen aromatic plant with several uses and considered as a prominent spice throughout the world. Most familiar product of cinnamon is quills, produced by peeling and rolling the bark pieces in to a pipe like structure. Dry mater content in cinnamon bark is a determinant factor of income since weight of quills mainly depends on it. If the dry matter content in cinnamon bark can be increased, returns from cinnamon exports can be increased as well. Therefore, this study was aimed at identifying the effect of spacing and type of planting material on dry matter percentage in cinnamon bark at the stage of first harvest. Seedlings and vegetatively propagated plants of cinnamon variety Sri Gemunu were planted under three different spacings as 1.2×0.6 m with three plants per hill, 1.2×0.4 m with two plants per hill and 1.2×0.2 m with one plant per hill as two factor factorial RCBD at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. First harvest was collected after two years from establishment and quills were produced with support of skilled cinnamon peelers. Weight of quills per plant was measured after air drying for three days and dry matter percentage in bark was determined by oven drying samples to a constant weight. The results revealed that the mean dry matter percentage in bark of cinnamon seedlings (37.84%) was significantly higher (P<0.05) than the mean dry matter percentage in bark of vegetatively propagated plants (31.69%). The mean quill weight per cinnamon seedling (45.93 g) was significantly higher (P<0.05) than the mean quill weight per vegetatively propagated plant (28.40 g). Interaction effect between spatial pattern and planting material was not significant for both bark dry matter percentage and weight of quills per plant. A moderate correlation between cinnamon bark dry matter percentage and quill weight was observed at the stage of first harvest (r = 0.429, p = 0.036) according to the Pearson’s correlation test. Findings of the current study can be used for further studies.