Growth and Yield of Common Bean (Phaseolus Vulgaris L.) in Response to Rhizobium Inoculation, Nitrogen and Molybdenum Fertilization

Abstract

Two field trials were carried out in two successive growing seasons of 2006 and 2007 at Elbehara Governerate - Faculty of Agriculture to study the combination effects of seed inoculation (with Rhizobium and without), nitrogen fertilization with (0, 48, 96 kg N/ha) and foliar molybdenum application(0 and 30 μg Mo/l as sodium molybdate) on plant height, branch number, plant fresh weight, plant dry weight, average number of green pods per plant and green pods yield ha-1 as well as nitrogen and molybdenum contents in leaves of bean plants Giza3. The highest values of all investigated parameters were obtained with a combination of seed inoculation, molybdenum application and nitrogen fertilization of 96 kg N/ha. Polynomial quadratic models were developed and used to describe green pods yield responses. Four polynomial equations were established to express the relationship among green pods yield and application rate of N fertilizer, molybdenum fertilization and Rhizobium inoculation for each season. The calculated yields in the two seasons closely approximate experimental yields as evidenced by the highly significant value of coefficient of determination (R2).