CHANGES IN CONSERVED FIELD CONDITIONS BY GROWING FABA BEAN (VICIA FABA L.) DURING TWO VARIED METEOROLOGICAL YEARS

Growth and development of twelve different faba bean genotypes were studied during two subsequent years (2005-2006 & 2006-2007) in their growing seasons, from October - March, in the research fields of Ege University, Turkey. The study was conducted in a randomized complete block design in an organic field. Various growth parameters of faba beans, including plant height, leaf number, leaf area index (LAI), leaf dry weight, root dry weight, and total plant dry weight were measured. The plant height and leaf number differed significantly (p<0.05) across genotypes and years, and showed genotype x year interactions. Moreover, LAI also statistically varied between genotypes and years, but no genotype x year interaction was observed. The leaf dry weight, root dry weight, and total plant above ground dry weight were found to be significantly different for genotypes, years and their interactions. The variation between years was due to differences in rainfall and soil nitrogen (N) that were high in the first year compared to the second year and these were the factors responsible for changing the conservation status of the field under study. The findings indicated that on an average, a faba bean has 101.90 cm plant height, 49.95 number of leaves plant(-1), 3.49 LAI, 354.83 kg leaf dry weights ha(-1), 11944 kg total above ground plant dry weight ha(-1), and 865 kg root dry weight ha(1). These findings are based on number of genotypes and can be used as a reference for growth and development of faba beans. Furthermore, differences in N in the organic fields during the study period shows that it needs to be managed in organic farming even for legume cropping system.