Abstract
Garlic performance in semi-arid environments is closely linked to the timing of crop establishment and the ability of a variety to adapt to seasonal conditions. A field experiment was therefore conducted to evaluate three sowing dates (15 October, 30 October and 14 November 2025) and two garlic varieties (G1 and Local Dargai) in a factorial randomized complete block design with three replications. Data were recorded for sprouting, plant height, number of leaves, stem diameter, average bulb weight, bulb length, bulb diameter, number of cloves per bulb and total bulb yield. Mean yield was highest when garlic was sown on 15 October (5.45 t ha-1), compared with 3.80 and 3.77 t ha-1 for the 30 October and 14 November sowings, respectively. Across sowing dates, G1 produced a mean yield of 5.39 t ha-1, whereas Local Dargai produced 3.29 t ha-1. The highest numerical treatment mean (6.53 t ha-1) occurred with 15 October × G1, although the sowing date × variety interaction for yield was not significant. Yield was strongly and positively associated with sprouting (r = 0.955), stem diameter (r = 0.802) and average bulb weight (r = 0.769), while clove number was negatively associated with yield (r = -0.723); plant height showed no meaningful association with yield. These findings indicate that, under the conditions of this experiment, mid-October sowing and the G1 variety provided the most favorable yield response.