The effect of flat covers on the growth and yield of broad beans (Vicia faba ssp. Major)

The experiment was carried out in 2007-2009, in the central-eastern Poland. The investigated factors were kind of covers: the control without covering, perforated foil with 100 holes per 1m2 and polypropylene fibre weighing 17·g·m-2, and broad beans cultivars - ‘White Windsor’, ‘Bizon’ and ‘Bachus’. Broad bean seeds were sown at the beginning of the second decade of April, at 50 × 10 cm spacing. Directly after sowing the field was covered by covers, which were left on the plants for 3 weeks. After removing the covers the height of plants was measured. Broad bean was harvested at the stage of milk maturity of seeds. The height of broad bean plants and the number of pods per plant were determined prior to the harvest. During the harvest the weight of pods and the yield of fresh seeds were determined and productivity of seeds was calculated from the weight of pods. Biometric parameters of pods and seeds i.e. length of pods, the number of seeds per pod and length, width and thickness of seeds were measured. It was found that the broad bean covering contributed to increase in the height of plant and yield as well as improvement of the biometric parameters of pods and seeds compared to the control object without covering. The highest yield of pods and seeds was produced by ‘Bizon’ cv. Plants covered by polypropylene fibre yielded best. The seeds of grown cultivars were characterized by similar parameters. Polypropylene fibre covering favoured formation of pods and seeds in the pods but did not cause changes in the seed parameters.