Effect of planting time and phosphorus dosage on growth, flowering, yield and quality of Indian bean (Lablab purpureus L.)

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the response of semi-dwarf photo-insensitive line of dolichos bean to time of planting (May, June, July, August, September and October) and graded dosage of phosphorus (30, 40, 50 and 60 kg/ha P2O5) for growth, flowering behaviour, yield and quality traits. Longest vine (331.16 cm) and highest number of primary branches (15.31) were recorded in the July sowing whereas, shortest vine length (158.66 cm) and lowest number of branches per plant was recorded in October sowing (10.08). May sowing took the least number of days to complete the physiological and developmental stages. May planting gave the highest yield (168.70 g/plant) and yield attributes as well as highest crude protein (25.3%) content of the pods. Similarly, phosphorus dose of 60 kg/ha recorded the highest plant growth, number of flowers per panicle (9.41), yield (123.04 g/plant) and maximum crude protein content (25.22 %) of the pods as compared to the lower dosage.