EFFECTS OF PLANT DENSITY AND PLANTING ARRANGEMENT IN GREEN BEAN SEED PRODUCTION

Abstract

Seed is the basic unit for any agricultural production system. Without quality seed, no one can even think of good harvest and green been (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) production. Seed producers have to meet farmers seed demand by adopting appropriate plant population and arrangement pattern which would give them satisfactory seed yield of good quality. Previous researches on the same subject indicate that square arrangement results in high yield while others found no clear differences yet others advocate the use of higher plant densities during production. Several plant population densities (125,000 plants/ha, 163,265 plants/ha, 222,222 plants/ha and 320,000plants/ha) and three planting arrangement patterns (square, R50 and R40) were investigated in this study. Comparison of bush bean seed yield was highest (0.50t/ha) at population of 222,222 plants/ha and when planted in square arrangement pattern and least (0.13t/ha) at population of 360,000 plants/ha. Seed size was only influenced by plant population and not affected by plant arrangement pattern. Plant population density strongly influenced the percent of good seeds developed with populations of 125,000 and 163,265 plants/ha producing 97.01% and 96.15%, respectively. Germination of the harvested seeds was insignificant at all plant densities. The highest speed of germination (77.62%) of seeds was observed from a population density of 320,000 plants/ha. Therefore, green bean seed producers can adjust their planting density to 222,222 plants/ha in square arrangement to maximize seed yield