Effect of inter and intra specific Plant Densities on Yield Performance of Broad Bean (Vicia faba L.) at Jarte District, Western Oromia Ethiopia

Abstract In the study area the yield of faba bean crop was declined mainly due to improper plant density, and biotic factors. The field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of inter and intra row spacing on the yields of faba bean crop. The field experiments consist of 16 treatment combination having four inter-rows spacing (20, 30, 40 and 50 cm) and intra-row (10, 15, 20 and 25 cm) spacing of Dagaga variety of faba bean. The treatment was arranged as Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and replicated three times. The analysis of variance was revealed that the main effect of inter and intra row spacing was showed significant difference on days to 50% flowering, days to 90% maturity, pod length, hundred seed weight and harvest index of faba bean, but plant height, number of pods per plant, and number of seeds per pod was non significantly affected. The longest pod length per plant (8.55 cm and 8.67 cm) were recorded at 13 cm intra and 50 cm inter row spacing. Similarly, the maximum number of pods per plant and number of seeds per pod was recorded at 13 cm intra and 50 cm inter row spacing. Maximum seed yield 4117.11 kg/ha and 3853.17 kg/ha was recorded at 40 cm inter and 10 cm intra row spacing, respectively. But the lowest grain yield 3386.22 kg/ha and 3378.25 was obtained at 50 cm and 13 cm inter and intra row spacing respectively.Therefore, it can be recommended that sowing faba bean crops at 40 cm inter and 10 cm intra-row attain maximum and economic yield at the study area and similar agro ecology.