Experimental Study on Effects of Rainproof Shade and Different Transplanting Periods on Growth, Development and Quality of Flue-cured Tobacco in Western Hubei

In order to investigate the effects of rainproof shade and different transplanting periods on the growth, development and quality of flue-cured tobacco, based on the experimental data of the core demonstration area of tobacco leaf planting in Chadianzi Town, Badong County, Enshi Prefecture for two consecutive years, the mathematical statistics method was used to study the effects of each experimental treatment on the growth period, agronomic traits, dry matter accumulation and chemical components of tobacco. The results showed that: (1) Compared with 2023, the temperature in Badong experimental area was higher, the precipitation was abnormally less, and the humidity was normally smaller in 2022, which was an abnormal drought year. (2) In the different transplanting period experiments, with the delay of the transplanting period, the number of days in the field period was shortened, and the agronomic traits, biomass and dry matter accumulation at maturity showed an increasing trend. The chemical components of the transplanting period on May 8th were better than that of other transplanting periods. Transplanting too early or too late affected the growth, development and quality of tobacco. (3) In the rainproof treatment, all indicators of tobacco had little differences compared with the control group in 2022 due to the drought in the field period. In 2023, all indicators of tobacco were lower than those of the control group. (4) In the shade treatment, the growth period of tobacco was shortened, and the plant height, number of productive leaves, maximum leaf length and width of waist leaves, stem circumference, biomass at maturity, dry matter accumulation, and chemical components were all lower than those of the control group. Therefore, different transplanting periods and rainproof shade treatments all had a certain impact on the growth, development and quality of tobacco. It was necessary to choose the appropriate transplanting period, take effective drainage and appropriate shade measures, make full use of climatic resources, and achieve stable production and high quality.