EFFECT OF SKIPPING IRRIGATION AT VARIOUS GROWTH STAGES ON YIELD AND QUALITY OF SOME FABA BEAN CULTIVARS (Vicia faba L.)

Two field experiments were conducted at Agric. Exp. Res. Sta., Fac. Agric., Cairo Univ., during 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 seasons to study the effect of five irrigation treatments (I1; normal irrigation "control" ; I2: skipping the second irrigation ; I3: skipping the third irrigation; I4: skipping the fourth irrigation and I5: skipping the fifth irrigation) on yield and seed quality of three cultivars of faba bean (Giza 3, Nubaria 1 and Sakha 3 ). A spilt plot design in a randomized complete blocks arrangement with three replications was used to conduct all trials. Irrigation treatments were randomly assigned for main plots while, faba bean cultivars were randomly arranged for sub plots. Results showed that skipping irrigation at various growth stages had significant effect on all studied traits in both seasons. Skipping the fourth or the fifth irrigation gave the greatest reduction in all yield traits except, seed protein content which increased in both seasons compared with other irrigation treatments. Regarding faba bean cultivars, differences among the three faba bean cultivars were significant except, number of pods plant-1, pods weight-1, number of seeds pod-1 and harvest index (%) in both seasons. Giza 3 cultivar gave the highest values all yield traits and seed protein content (%) followed by Nubaria 1. However, Sakha 3 cultivar gave the lowest value of all yield traits and seed protein content (%) in both seasons. For interaction between irrigation regime and faba bean cultivars, all faba bean cultivars were affected by skipping irrigation in both seasons. Giza 3 cultivars was more tolerant to skipping irrigation followed by Nubaria 1 however, Sakha 3 was more sensitive to drought stress.