Abstract
Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is one of the most important and widely cultivated pulse crops in most developing countries. However, its cultivation is globally constrained mainly by low soil fertility and lack of improved agronomic practices. A field experiment was conducted at Hawassa University College of Agriculture, Hawassa Southern Ethiopia to determine the effect of N fertilization and Rhizobium phaseoli strain HB-429 inoculation on growth, nodulation, yield and yield components of common bean variety Hawassa Dume. The experiment was laid out as a randomized complete block design with three replications. Results showed significant increase in growth, nodulation, yield and yield components in plants inoculated with Rhizobium strain HB-429 over the control. Thus, from the results of this study, it can be concluded that Rhizobium inoculation with strain HB-429 is the best performing treatment to be recommended for profitable grain yield of common bean at the Hawassa and other similar areas. Key words: Common bean, grain yield, nitrogen, nodulation, Rhizobium inoculation
Highlights
Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a major grain legume grown and consumed in sub Saharan Africa, including Ethiopia
Inoculation with strain HB-429 gave relatively higher shoot dry weight that was greater by 102.3% over the control
Application of N fertilizer and Rhizobium inoculation resulted in significant improvement on plant height, shoot dry weight, nodule number and nodule dry weight
Summary
Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a major grain legume grown and consumed in sub Saharan Africa, including Ethiopia. It is the most important food legume, fodder and cover crop (Gidago et al, 2012). It matures early, has wider ecological adaptation and broad range of local genetic diversity (Fikru, 2007). Inclusion of common bean in the daily diet has several health benefits such as reduction of cholesterol level (Rosa et al, 1998), reduction of coronary heart diseases, favourable effects against cancer (Oomah et al, 2005), decreasing diabetes and obesity and high antioxidant capacity (Mitchell et al, 2009)
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