Title : Nitrogen fertilizer and rhizobium inoculant enhances morphology, yield and quality of selected vetch varieties
Abstract:
The study was done to assess the effect of nitrogen fertilizer and inoculant on morphology, yield and quality of vetch varieties. The study was carried out at the North-West University trial farm (Molelwane), Mafikeng, in a greenhouse environment. Two vetch varieties (Namoi and Morava) used in this experiment were subjected to the same level (200 ml/50 kg bag of seeds) of R. leguminosarum biovar viciae and 40 kg N/ha nitrogen fertilizer. Planting was done in 30 cm diameter and 22 cm deep plastic bags filled to an identical weight with soil. There were 8 treatments as follows: zero-control (N0/M0); 40 kg/ha nitrogen fertilizers (NN/MN); Rhizobium inoculant 200 ml/50 bag of seeds (NR/MR); and combination of fertilizer and inoculant (NNNR/MNMR), replicated 15 times. Morphological parameters were measured on a weekly basis. Root parameters were recorded at harvest which was done 60 days after planting to determine biomass yield and chemical composition. Two-way ANOVA was used to analyse the data for biomass, root and chemical composition parameters, while a three-way ANOVA was used to analyse chlorophyll and morphology parameters using the general linear model (GLM) procedure of SAS. The NR treatment had the highest (p<0.05) number of leaves (219-447) when compared to Morava in all treatments in different weeks. Again, NR (56) and MNR (56) in each variety had the highest (P<0.05) number of nodules when compared to N0, M0, NN and MN. Within each variety, both varieties under rhizobium, nitrogen and the combination of nitrogen and rhizobium treatments had the highest biomass yield. MNR (521 kg/ha) and NNR (599 kg/ha) produced the highest crude protein yield. The MN, MR, MNR treatments had higher (p<0.05) Ca (1.22% DM, 1.09% DM and 1.26% DM), Mg (0.37% DM, 0.35% DM and 0.37% DM) and S (0.23% DM, 0.26% DM and 0.23% DM) concentration compared Namoi under the same treatments. In general, comparing the productivity of both varieties, Morava was found to have the lowest performance than Namoi variety in most of the parameters measured. There is a need to assess the overall performance of these vetch varieties in an outside environment.
