Abstract

An investigation was carried out during rabi seasons of 2016–17 and 2017–18 at the Experimental Farm, Department of Horticulture, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat to study the influence of NPK and Zn on productivity of French bean types. The treatment combinations including two French bean types (Main treatment: V1-Pole and V2-Dwarf), three levels of NPK (sub-treatment: F1: 30-40-20, F2: 30-40-30 and F3: 40-40-40) and three levels of zinc sulphate (sub-sub treatment: Z0: 0 ppm, Z25: 25 ppm and Z50: 50 ppm) were laid out in a split-split plot design with three replications. Experiment revealed that application of varieties, NPK and Zn levels had significant influence on yield and yield parameters of French bean. It was observed that out of the two French bean types, V1 recorded the highest number of pods/plant, number of seeds/pod, pod yield/plant, crude protein content and tryptophan content of pod. Regarding the fertility effect, F3 (40-40-40 NPK) exhibited the number of pods/plant, number of seeds/pod, pod yield/plant, pod yield/ha, crude protein content and tryptophan content of pod. Zinc sulphate concentration Z50 (50 ppm) recorded the highest number of pod/plant, number of seeds/pod, pod yield/plant, pod yield/ha, crude protein content and tryptophan content of pod. Among the interaction effects of variety, fertilizer and zinc, the yield and quality characters like number of pods/plant, number of seeds/pod, pod yield/plant, crude protein content and tryptophan content of pod were recorded in V1F3Z50, except the pod yield/ha it was recorded highest in V2F3Z50 due to its spacing.