Performance of mung bean (Vigna radiata L.) varieties at different NPS rates and row spacing at Kindo Koysha district, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Mung bean (Vigna radiataL.) is a pulse crop with multiple uses, yet the crop was not introduced in the study area. Further, there is a lack of information on improved agronomic technologies for the crop in the study area. Hence, a field trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of inter-row spacing and fertilizer rate on the performance of mung bean varieties at Kindo Koysha district, in 2018. The experiment comprised factorial combinations of two varieties (Shewarobit, N-26), three inter-row spacing of planting (20, 30 and 40 cm) and four NPS fertilizer rate (0, 50, 100 and 150 kg ha−1) was laid out using randomized complete block design with three replications. The results indicated that the three-way interaction effect of variety, fertilizer and row spacing significantly influenced above-ground dry biomass. Further, the two-way interaction effect of variety with fertilizer rate significantly (P < 0.05) influenced yield and yield attributing traits. Accordingly, the maximum number of pod per plant (14.7), grain yield ha−1(1294.7 kg ha−1) and harvest index were recorded for N-26 variety at 150 kg NPS ha−1. Moreover, economic analysis also indicated that the highest net benefit of 33168.00 ETB ha−1 was recorded for mung bean variety N-26 grown at 100 kg NPS ha−1. Based on the result of this study, it can be tentatively concluded that producing variety N-26 at the rate of 100 kg NPS ha−1found to be promising treatment combination for better productivity and higher economic return in the study area.