THE ROLE OF PHOSPHORUS AND ROW SPACING IN THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF FIELD BEANS(Vicia faba L. Minor)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Rabiaa agricultural research station in Ninevah province under area of moderate rainfall (350 - 450 mm) with supplementary irrigation for the two growing seasons 1996/1997 and 1997/1998 to study the effects of four levels of phosphorus (0, 40, 80, 120 kg P2O5/ha) and for row spacings (10, 20, 30, 40 cm) on the growth and yield of field beans (Vicia Faba L. minor) cv. Troy. The distance between seed and another was (15 cm). Factorial experiment was organized in a randomized complete block design in three replications. Results showed the superiority of (80 and 120 kg P2O5/ha) levels over (0, 40 kg P2O5/ha) levels in the seed yield 3408 and 3484 kg /ha in 1996/1997 and 3500 and 3620 kg /ha in 1997/1998, whereas (0, 40 kg P2O5/ha) gave seed yield 2908 and 2928 kg /ha respectively, in 1996/1997, and 2568 and 3016 kg /ha in 1997/1998. Number of pods/plant followed a similar pattern of seed yield. Height of plant and number of branches/plant were increased by using phosphorus fertilizer. Row spacing of 30 cm gave the highest seed yield in comparison with (10, 20, 40 cm) phosphorus fertilizer and row spacing had no effect on seed weight and number of seeds/pod.