Effect of Soil Mulching and Cobalt on Growth and Yield of (Phaseolus Vulgaris L.) Under Protected Conditions

Abstract

The study was conducted during the winter season 2021 at the Agricultural Research Station of the College of Agriculture, University of Basra. In order to study the effect of soil Mulching and the addition of cobalt on the growth and green yield of green bean plants grown under greenhouses conditions, the experiment included 12 factorial treatments, which consist of the four types of plastic coverings (black, white, transparent and without Mulching ) and three concentrations of cobalt as a cobalt sulfate (zero, 5 and 10) ml g L-1, as the Mulching with white plastic achieved the best results in most of study parameters. The addition of cobalt at concentrations 5 and 10 ml.g L-1 recorded the best values in plant height, number of leaves, leaf area and number of root nodes, and white and black caps also outperformed in pod weight, yield of plant green pods, total yield of green pods and pod length. The white cover achieved the best value in the percentage of protein of seeds, while the transparent cover was recorded best value in the percentage of dry matter in the seeds. Foliar cobalt application of concentrations 5 and 10 mlg L-1 recorded best value in pod weight and per the yield of pods. Plant -1 yield., pod diameter and the percent of dry matter in the seeds, and the concentration of 5 mlg L-1 achieved the highest value in the number of pods and protein content in the seeds.