Effect of Sowing Dates on Growth, Flowering and Yield of Indian Bean Varieties under Agroclimatic Conditions of Malwa Plateau in Madhya Pradesh

A field experiment was carried out at research field, College of Horticulture, Mandsaur (M.P.) during kharif season, 2018-19. Twenty treatment combinations comprising of four dates of sowing (D1 - 20th July, D2 - 5th August, D3 - 20th August and D4 - 5th September) and five varieties (V1 - Arka Vijay, V2 - Konkan Bhushan, V3 - Arka Visthar, V4 - Arka Adarsh and V5 - Arka Prasidhi) were evaluated in factorial randomized block design with three replications. The findings of the investigation revealed that among the dates of sowing, D1 (20th July) recorded significantly higher growth parameters, yield parameters and yield. There was highest protein content, dry matter content and fibre content in edible pods under D1 (20th July) and lowest with D4 (5th September) date of sowing. Earliest first flowering, 50% flowering and first picking of pod was noted with D4 (5th September) date of sowing. Among the varieties, variety V3 (Arka Visthar) showed superiority for growth parameters and yield parameters viz., number of spikes plant-1(116.21), pod width (23.04mm), weight of 10 pods (96.19g), pod yield plant-1 (2579.1g), pod yield ha-1 (339.6q) and harvest index (39.4%). Earliest first flowering (41.5 days) and first picking (63.7 days) was observed with V2 (Konkan Bhushan). Highest spike length (31.49cm) was measured with variety V2 (Konkan Bhushan). Highest pod length (14.05cm) and number of pods plant-1 (340.6) were recorded with variety V5 (Arka Prasidhi). Highest protein content (2.80%), fibre content (1.94%) and dry matter content (16.20%) were obtained under the variety V1 (Arka Vijay).