Effect of date of sowing of French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) in minimizing climatechange impact and in its performance in inner Terai region of Nepal

Abstract

Research was conducted during 2008/09 at Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences (IAAS), Rampur, Chitwan to assess the influence of date of sowing in minimizing climate change impact and performance of French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) The experiment was laid out in split- plot design comprising 3 dates of sowing (October 21st, November 5th and November 20th) as main plot factor with fivelevels of nitrogen in three replications. The soil of the experimental plots was sandy loam with acidic (pH 6.33) in nature and PDR 14 (or Uday) variety was planted. The important crop growth stages like reproductive period of the French bean sown on November 5th (mid-sown crop) was exposed to the optimum temperature, reflected to higher grain yield production, as compared to the early and late sown crops. The French bean sown on October 21st (early sown crops) was exposed to lower temperature in its critical reproductive stages like flower bud formation, flowering, pod formation and pod development while the November 20th sown (late sown) crop was exposed to higher temperature in pod setting to maturity stages. The crop sown on November 5th produced significantly higher grain yield (2.16 t/ha) than October 21st (2.0 t/ha) and November 20th (1.75 t/ha) sowings. So, in order to minimize the impact of climate change and achieve higher productivity of french bean, November 5th can be considered as an optimum time of sowing in the humid sub-tropical condition of Chitwan.