Productivity Improvement of Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) through Elite Rhizobial Inoculants in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia

Mulugeta Mekonnen^1* and Abere Mnalku²

Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Holetta Agricultural Research Center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Corresponding author's Email: Mulebiotec@gmail.com

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CARJ.9.1.08

Abstract:

This study envisioned to assess the inoculation response of faba bean to six indigenous rhizobial isolates, 100 kg ha^-1 DAP as a positive control and non-inoculated negative control under farmers’ field conditions at Welmera district, Ethiopia. The results revealed the presence of significantly different treatments (p ≤ 0.05) in grain yield. The highest grain yields (3966 kg ha^-1and 3694 kg ha^-1) were obtained from inoculation of rhizobial isolates (FB-AR-13 and FB-1018) during the 2019/20 and 2020/21 cropping seasons. Based on the two successive year’s average grain yield response, FB-AR-13 (3966 kg ha^-1) became the first most performing isolate. The partial budget analysis results also showed that FB-AR-13 was the most promising isolate that showed a higher MRR 6422 %, which is 43% higher than the MRR of the local standard check FB-1018. Therefore, isolate FB-AR-13 is the best promising candidate for the development of commercial faba bean rhizobial inoculant in the central high lands of Ethiopia after further verification over different farmers' fields at different agro-ecologies.

Keywords:

Faba Bean; Grain Yield; Inoculant; Strain

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