The effect of soil water deficits on growth and development of selected common bean cultivars (phaseolus vulgaris l.)
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Date
1999
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Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
Research was conducted to study the performance of three common bean
(Phaseohis vulgaris L.) cultivars grown under stressed and non-stressed water
conditions. Two experiments were conducted at Sokoine University of
Agriculture (SUA) located at 6°.5’ latitude South, 37°.3’ longitude East; and 525m
a.s.l The first experiment was conducted under screen-house conditions between
March and May, 1998; while the second experiment was conducted under field
conditions in May through August, 1998.
The experimental design used was a split plot with four replicates. The main
treatments were irrigated and non-irrigated. The subtreatments were three
common bean cultivars. In the screen-house experiment, ten litre plastic pots
filled with sandy clay loam soil were used for planting. Under the field
experiment, the size of each subtreatment was 10.8m2 and the crop was spaced at
60 by 20cm. Sulphate of ammonia and triple supper phosphate were applied at
30kg N and 25kg P per hectare, respectively. Data were collected from
underground and above ground plant parts at first flowering (Rl), 50% flowering
(R4), physiological maturity (R8) and harvest maturity (R9). Highly significant effects of irrigation treatments, cultivars and their interactions were
obtained at all sampling times except at R1 when the main treatments had just been
applied. Non-irrigated plants completed their life cycle earlier than irrigated plants.
Stressed cultivars had severe leaf curling, wilting and drooping between R4 and R8. Non
stressed cultivars had significantly higher plants heights, leaf area, root length, total
biomass and seed yield than drought-stressed plants. It was also noted that stress levels
differ from one cultivar to another. Cultivar SUA 90 gave the highest total biomass and
seed yield in both experiments under both maintreatments. This was followed by "Rojo"
and finally Canadian Wonder. The BEANGRO crop simulation model indicated that root
length, root weight, leaf weight, and specific leaf area were very important parameters to
consider when evaluating bean genotypes for drought tolerance.
Description
Dissertation
Keywords
Cultivars grown, Soil water deficits, Common bean (Phaseohis vulgaris L.), Subtreatment