investigation of possibility of fennel (foeniculum vulgar l.) autumnal sowing in mashhad condition

in order to investigate the possibility of fennel autumnal sowing in mashhad condition, 2 sets of experiments were conducted in agricultural college, ferdowsi university of mashhad in 2003-2005. this experiment was performed in the manner of split blocks based on completely randomized blocks with three replications. treatments were two fennel ecotypes (khorasan and kerman) and three planting dates (october, december and march). fennel seeds only were planted in 2003 and in next year, plants were grown of remains parts of stem in surface of soil. results showed in end of first years, number of remain plant in march planting dates, three times of october planting dates. in second years, number of remain plant in march planting dates 6.5 and 2.7 times october and december planting dates, respectively. number of remain plant between khorasan and kerman ecotypes were not significantly different in two years. however, effects of planting date and ecotype on dry matter and number of primary and secondary branches were not significant but plant of october planting dates superior to the plant of december and march planting dates. number of umbel without seed in october planting dates was 3.4 and 8.8 times of december and march planting dates. in spite of weight of seed in october planting dates highest than december and march planting dates, effect of planting dates on weight of seed in plant was not significant. in first year highest and lowest yield were obtained in october (68.7 gr/m2) and march (20.5 g/m2) planting dates. but in second year maximum and minimum of yield were obtained in march and october planting dates with 45.3 and 14.2 g/m2, respectively.