Effect of Seeding Date and Plant Density on Yield Compeonents and Yield Common Bean in South-Central Ethiopia
1995
Tsedeke Abate (Institute of Agricultural Research, Addis Abeba (Ethiopia))
Field trials consisting of four seeding dates (at ten-day intervals) as main plots and five plant densities (100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 thousand seeds ha-1) as subplots were conducted at two agro-ecologically distinct locations, Awasa and Melkasa, south-central Ethiopia during the 1987 and 1988 crop seasons. Seeding date (S) had significant effect (P less than 0.001) on seed yield and all its components (i.e. number of pods per plant, seeds per pod, and 1000-seed weight); in general, early seeding resulted in nearly 41 percent seed yield increase over late seeding. Plots seeded late received less rainfall so that the yield components were adversely effected. Plant density also had significant effects (P less than 0.001) on seed yield, pods per plant and seeds per pod; seed weight was not affected by plant density. There were positive curvilinear relationships between seed yield and plant density. Seeding rates of 400,000 seeds ha-1 resulted in a 39.5 percent seed yield increase over 100,000 seeds ha-1 at Awasa whereas at Melkasa 500,000 seeds ha-1 yielded 71 percent higher than 100,000 seeds ha-1. Seasonal (Y) and location (L) effects were significant (P less than 0.001) for seed yield and all its components; Y x L x S interactions were also highly significant for all variables. Other interaction effects did not seem to be important. The overall mean yields for 1987 and 1988 were 1579 plus or minus 100.6 and 2648 plus or minus 77.2 kg ha-1, respectively. Seasonal effects were mainly due to the changes in the amount of rainfall, which was positively correlated with seed yield and its components. These results incicate that improved cultural practices can increase common bean yield by a factor of 2- to 3-fold in Ethiopia.
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