Garlic (Allium sativum) Propagation Alternatives using Bulblets and Cloves of Different Sizes in a Semi-arid Sub-tropical Environment

Aims: Garlic (Allium sativum) is increasing in popularity in Southern Africa. However, there is dearth of information on alternative propagules to use. The trial was carried out to find out the yield of garlic produced from aerial bulblets and two clove sizes.
Study Design: The treatments were laid in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) replicated 3 times.
Place and Duration of Study: This trial was carried out at the Horticulture Research Centre, Marondera, Zimbabwe from April to August of 2007.
Methodology: The small cloves, large cloves and bulblets were sown in seedling trays and transplanted in the field at 30 days after planting in plots of 2m by 2m. The plant spacing was 40 cm between the rows by 10 cm within the row.
Results: There were significant (p<0.001) differences for time to shoot emergence and plant height at transplanting. The results showed that at 5 days after planting 89% of the large cloves emerged early followed by aerial bulblets at 47 % and small cloves at 34 %. Small cloves and bulblets took a longer time to emerge at 80 % and 76 % respectively at 14 days after planting. Large cloves produced the tallest mean seedlings (29.70 cm) at transplanting while bulblets had the mean shortest seedlings (20 cm). Large cloves produced plants with the highest flowering incidence of 61 % and small cloves had the lowest of 22 % while bulblets had 37 %. The flowering incidence was also significantly (p<0.001) different for the three types of propagation materials. There were no significant differences in yield between the large cloves, small cloves and the bulblets. The results indicated that bulblets can be used as garlic seed in the same way as cloves.
Conclusion: The yield from small cloves, large cloves and bulblets was not significantly different. Bulblets can be used to propagate garlic.