Response of Faba Bean to Tillage Systems Different Regimes of NPK Fertilization and Plant Interspacing

A two-year field study was conducted in winter seasons to investigate the effect of three tillage systems (one, reduced & conventional), three fertilization regimes (P, NP & NPK) and three plant population densities (formed by different hill spacings of 15, 20 & 25 cm among hills) on growth and productivity of faba bean cultivar, Giza 843. Response of number of pods and seed yield per plant, 100-seed weight and seed yield per faddan to tillage systems were significant, where conventional tillage gave higher values for these traits compared to no-and reduced tillage practices. Seed yield per plant, 100-seed weight and seed yield per faddan responded significantly to the fertilization regimes, where NP and NPK produced the highest seed yield per faddan, compared to P fertilization only. Number of pods and seed yield per plant and 100-seed weight significantly increased with increasing the spacings among hills, whereas the intermediate hill spacing of 20 cm produced the highest significant seed yield per faddan. Stepwise regression analysis emphasized the importance of number of pods per plant as an important seed yield component of faba bean. That was further elucidated with the positive and significant correlation between seed yield per plant and number of pods per plant. In conclusion, conventional tillage was superior to both reduced and minimum tillage systems in seed yield and its components. (C) 2010 Friends Science Publishers