Effect of Plant Population and NPS Fertilizer Rates on Yield and Yield Components of Mung Bean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) in Bako, Western Ethiopia

Abstract

Mung bean (Vigna radiata L.) is a pulse crop with multiple uses and it was introduced recently in the study area. However, its productivity is limited by inadequate plant population and NPS fertilizer rate in the study area. Hence, this study was carried out to determine optimum plant population and NPS fertilizer rates for mung bean borda varaity in Bako, Western Ethiopia. The experiment comprised of factorial combinations of four different plant populations (500000, 571429, 666667, and 800000 plants ha-1) and five NPS fertilizer rates (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg ha-1) and it was laid out using Randomised Complete Block Design with three replications. The results indicated that main effect of plant population and NPS fertilizer rates had significant effect on phenology, growth, yield, and yield components of mung bean, except stand count, above-ground biomass, straw and seed yield, which were affected by the main factors and their interactions. Highest nodule dry weight per plant (0.14g), number of pods per plant (4.74g), seeds per pod (10.26g), 100-seed weight (3.61g), and harvest index (31.16%) were observed under minimum plant population (500,000 plants ha-1). Moreover, the highest days for 50% flowering (49.08 days), 90% physiological maturity (64.5 days), effective nodules per plant (2.28),nodule fresh weight (0.33gm), nodule dry weight (0.141g plant-1),plant height (11.10cm), number of leaves per plant (8.80), number of branches per plant (3.11), tap root length (8.99cm), number of pods per plant (4.79), seeds per pod (10.78g), 100-seed weight (3.73) and harvest index (32.98%) were observed under 200 kg ha-1 NPS fertilizer. The highest stand count per hectare (780,667 plants ha−1), above-ground biomass (4,947kg ha-1), seed yield ha-1 (1,371kg ha-1) and straw yield (3,575 kg ha-1) were recorded at higher plant population (800,000 plants ha-1) with 200kg NPS ha-1 fertilizer rate (kg ha-1). However, higher plant population (800,000 plants ha-1) at the rate of 100 kg NPS ha-1fertilizer produced 1,325 kg ha-1seed yield which was the highest net benefit (50,080 ETB) and marginal rate of returns (5,610.8%). Therefore, application of 100 kg NPS ha-1 fertilizer rate with plant population of 800,000 plants ha-1 can be recommended for mung bean production in the study area and similar agro-ecologes. However, the current study was carried out only in one location for one cropping season, hence further studies over many seasons and across several locations are needed to have a conclusive recommendation for wide range of agro ecologies for mung bean production.

Performance of different fertilizers and plant spacing on the growth of mungbean

“…Whereas the lowest plant height was observed in S3F2 (40.37 and 44.53 cm) at 45 and 60 DAS. Plant height might be varied in different crops due to plant spacing; similar findings were also reported by Sefera et al (2021) in mungbean. On the other hand, combination of organic and inorganic fertilizers was created better plant height in groundnut (Mohanty et al, 2022;El-sherbeny et al, 2023) and in green gram (Rajendar et al, 2021) than only inorganic fertilizers application.…”

“…It was also showed that maximum number of branches plant -1 at 30, 45 and 60 DAS was recorded in S1F0 (0.20), S3F0 (2.27) and S3F5 (2.70) whereas minimum number of branches plant -1 S3F3 (0.00), S1F1 (0.33 and 0.87) treatment combinations respectively (Table 3). Similar results corroborated that the plant spacing increases the number of branches plant -1 (Taufiq and Kristiono 2016;Sefera et al, 2021).On the other hand, the application of different fertilizer doses the number of branches have been changed (Achakzai et al, 2012;Mohanty et al, 2022).…”

“…Seed yield is determined by genetic potential, planting density (Mansoor et al, 2010) and fertilizer executive (Hussain et al, 2014;Sefera et al, 2021). However, plants require adequate space to grow in residents.…”

“…In accordance with planting density, proper plant spacing management has an important role in maximizing yield (Ahamed et al, 2011). High planting density increases struggle between the plants and reduces occupation of plant to get light, water and nutrient (Sefera et al, 2021;Dikr, 2022). Therefore, optimum plant population ensures normal plant growth due to efficient utilization of moisture, light, space and nutrients, thus increases the yield of crop (Dikr, 2022).…”