IMPROVING FABA BEAN PRODUCTIVITY IN SALT-AFFECTED SOIL THROUGH CALCIUM NUTRITION
NABIL A. KHALIL
Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Egypt
MOEMEN H. TAHA
Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Egypt
RAMADAN A. BADAWY
Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Egypt
ZAKARIA F. FAWZY
Agricultral and Biological Research Division, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt
OMNIA KHALID
Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Egypt
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Two field experiments were conducted in Wadi El-Natroon Desert Experimental Station, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, El-Beheira Governorate, Egypt,during two successive winter season (2017/18 and 2018/19) to study the performance of two faba bean varieties (Sakha-1 and Nubaria3)as affected by three levels of Calcium nutrition (0, 2 and 4 g Ca/liter) under three dates for applying Calcium (45,60 and 45 & 60 days from sowing date). The design used was A split-spilt plot design with three replications. The main plots consisted of the varieties, sub-plots were allocated to the dates of applying Calcium, while sub-sub plots were devoted to the calcium concentration.The collecting results could be summarized as follows: the greatest performance of the two varieties was obtained from treatment by 4 g Ca/L which recorded the highest number of branches, pods and seeds/plant, seed index, seed yield/feddan and harvest index.In general, Sakha-1 recorded the higher seed yield/feddan comparing to Nubaria3. The highest seed yield/ feddan was obtained from calcium application at 4 g/liter combined with Sakha-1 and time of applingCalcuim at 45 & 60 days.
Keywords: Faba bean, salt-affected soil, calcium nutrient, yield