PHOSPHATE FERTILIZERS EFFECTS ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD TRAITS OF FABA BEAN (VICIA FABA L.).

The present aimed to study the effects of phosphate (P) fertilizer levels (0, 40, and 80 kg P ha-1 ) on the growth and productivity of the Spanish and Turkish faba bean (Vicia faba L.) cultivars, carried out in 2021-2022 at the Kirkuk, Iraq. The results showed that 80 kg P ha-1 significantly influenced the growth and yield traits of faba bean, i.e., branches plant-1, pod length, pods plant-1, seeds plant-1, seeds’ weight pod-1, one-seed weight, 100-seed weight, seed yield plant-1, and seed yield ha-1 . The Turkish faba bean cultivar performed better than the Spanish cultivar for yield-related traits. Interaction between phosphorus fertilizer levels and cultivars influenced all studied traits substantially, except days to 50% flowering and plant height. Correlation analysis showed that seed yield was significantly and positively correlated with branches plant-1, pod length, pods plant-1, seeds pod-1, seeds plant-1, seed weight pod-1, one-seed weight, 100-seed weight, and seed yield plant-1 . Regression analysis indicated a strong relationship between seed yield and its components under phosphorus fertilizer levels. Turkish cultivar responded better to phosphorus fertilizer and performed superbly compared to Spanish cultivar. Therefore, the faba bean Turkish cultivar with 80 kg P ha-1 fertilization could be recommendable for getting higher faba-bean seed yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]