Biological Effects of Different Levels of Sorghum Residues on Some Growth and Yield Traits of Three Faba Beans Cultivars

Abstract The research aims to know the biological effects of sorghum waste, the extent of its biological influence on the growth and yield traits of three faba beans cultivars, conducting an experiment in of the Plant-Protection laboratories, College of Agriculture, Al-Muthanna University, During the winter agricultural season of 2023-2024. The experiment was carried out according to split-plot by RCBD with 3-replicates, the treatments were distributed randomly within each block, as the total experimental units became 27 experimental units, where the items and symbolized by V1, V2 and V3 represented the main plots, while sorghum residues were placed in three levels (0, 10 and 20%) in the secondary plots. The results showed significant-differences in TRT, as the treatments of addition to residues showed a significant superiority to the experimental treatment (without adding residues) in all studied traits, by giving it the highest averages (6.78 leaf. plant −1 , 26.88 cm 2 , 2.89 branch, and 70.33%) for the leaves-number, height-plant, branches-number and germination percentage, respectively. The comparison trait was superior on the yield traits represented by the pods-number, pod-length and seeds-number per pod, as it recorded highest averages (4.89 plant −1 , 4.11 cm and 4.11 pods −1 ). The study concluded that there is a difference in the effect of the added waste according to the different traits studied, and the effect was significant on all characteristics, also, there is a direct correlation between the percentage of germination and the increase in the amount of waste, a positive indication of the use of these residues in biological control.