Manfeng CHEN, Na ZHAO, Kaihua WANG, Yamei MIAO, Xuejun WANG

Institute of Agricultural Science Research along the Yangtze River, Rugao 226541, China

The nutritious fresh faba beans,one of the major vegetables for export in Nantong, play an essential role in the plantation of beans in Nantong. The primary beans species are Dabaipi and Tongcanxian 7 developed by the Institute of Agricultural Science Research along the Yangtze River. 20 000 hm2of land is planted with beans all year long,which accounts for around 30%.

Tongcanxian 7 performs exceptional among a group of refined fresh faba beans developed by the Institute of Agricultural Science Research along the Yangtze River. Fresh faba beans are winter crops, so the beans in the greenhouse can be picked early,which can increase the economic benefits of fresh faba beans. Therefore, the beans research groups from the Institute of Agricultural Science Research along the Yangtze River studied the greenhouse cultivating technique of Tongcanxian 7 from 2010 to 2011 in order to provide scientific proofs to the plastic shed vegetables.

Materials and Methods

Testing materials

Tongcanxian 7 developed by the Institute of Agricultural Science Research along the Yangtze River is selected in this experiment.Tongcanxian 7 is originally named as“Tong 03010”,a new species developed by breeding the refined, high-yield multi-resistance parents (93009/97021) F2/97021. The species was breed in 2007, and identified by Jiangsu species committee as a new species of fresh faba beans.There were about 209 days from sowing to the picking period. The seedlings grow rapidly, and the roots in the central and later period are active. The seedlings are tolerant to fertilizer. The plant is of medium height,about 96.7 c,and the leaves are large.There were about 4.6 twigs in each plant,and the output of each plant was about 263.8 g. There were 2.27 particles in each pod. The weight of 100 fresh seeds was 379.3 g. Jiangsu i dentification test from 2009 to 2011 showed that the average fresh podoutput in two years was 17 777.4 kg/hm2.

Test methods

The Institute of Agricultural Science Research along the Yangtze River in 2010 carried out various experiments on Tongcanxian that was planted under the 6-meter-wide and 36-meter-long polytunnel. In the experimental sowing period,the row spacing was 75 cm, and the plant spacing was 20 cm. There were four levels of sowing period:A1 was on October 22(Control CK). A2 was on November 2. A3 was on November 12. A4 was on November 22. Each treatment area was 6.0 m2. The density experiment was on October 22,and there were five density treatment level: B1 was 30 000 plants/hm2,B2 was 37 500 plants/hm2,B3 was 45 000 plants/hm2, B4 was 52 500 plants/hm2,and B5 was 60 000 plants/hm2. Each treatment was repeated for three times. We applied 9 000 kg/hm2of calcium carbonate,and 4 500 kg/hm2of compound fertilizer. The polythene-covered frame was set up in the last ten days of December.The beans started to flower in the last 10 days of February. Fresh pods were collected around April 20th.

Determination methods

We selected five strains for each treatment during the fresh pod collection period. We recorded the pod height, strain height, and the number of effective branches in each strain,the joint position at the beginning of pod formation, the node number, and the yield per plant. We used the temperature and humidity automatic recorder to record the polytunnel and open field temperature. The interval of determination time was 30 minutes.

Statistics method

The data was processed primarily in Excel to calculate the average agronomic characters and the effective accumulated temperature. Besides, the SPSS (13.0) statistics software was applied for variance analysis, multiple comparison and relevant analysis.

Results and Analyses

Experiments on Tongcanxian 7 during the sowing period

According to Table 1, the strain height during the treatment period was between 114 and 117 cm, and the highest treatment was A2 and A4,while the shortest one was A1. The fresh pod height during the treatment period was between 24 and 25 cm,and the highest treatment was A2 and A4,while the shortest one was A1 and A3. The number of effective branch in each strain ranged from four to ten,and the highest treatment was A1,while the lowest was A4.

Test on the polytunnel density of Tongcanxian 7

As is shown in Table 2, the strain height during the treatment period was between 98 and 107 cm, as the maximum treatment was B4 and the minimum treatment was B3. The height of fresh pod was between 18 and 31 cm,and the highest one was B5, while the lowest one was B1. There were about four to seven effective branches in each strain, and the largest one was B1, while the smallest one was B5(control CK).The nod number was between 16 and 18,while the largest one was B4, while the smallest one was B3.The output of each strain was between 441 and 806 g, and the highest one was B1, while the lowest one was B5.

Variance analysis suggested that the differences among fresh pod height,the number of effective branches in each strain and the output per strain were distinct.

Table 1 The average value of the each strain during the sowing period

Table 2 The average value of each strain in the density test

The output of Tongcanxian 7 under different treatment

As we can see from Table 3, the one with the maximum output of fresh pod was A2 (November 2), which was 19.12%higher than CK,while the output of A3 and A4 all declined. A3 was 29.15%less than the control,while A4 was 30.37%less than the control.The highest output in the density experiment was B2 (37 500 strain/hm2),which was 16.77% higher than the control, while the output of B3 was 9.38%higher than the control,and thefigure for B4 was 1.83% higher than the control. The number of B1 was 12.48%

Based on the above-mentioned data, we learned that A2 treatment was the most optimal time for sowing(November 2), and the most optimal density was B2 treatment (37 500 strain/hm2). With the delay of sowing period, the differences among strain height, fresh pod height and the node position of first pod were unobvious.The output performance gradually decreased with the postponing of sowing period.As the plants were getting closer,the stain height, the position of fresh pod and the node number differed little, and with the rising of fresh pod height, the number of effective branch per strain gradually decreased,so was the output per strain. The plants growth lagged behind,which affected the formation of effective branches and decreased the output.The closer the plants got, the poorer ventilation it got, leading to the crazy growth of plants and the rise in pod height, which would eventually affect the output.

Table 3 The output of fresh faba beans

Table 4 Comparison of accumulated temperature ℃

Comparison of accumulative temperature

Table 4 revealed that accumulated temperature for the growth of fresh faba beans in the greenhouse should be higher than the ones in the open air.

Conclusions and Discussions

(1) Experiments on the faba beans in the polytunnel during different sowing periods and of different planting density suggested that the optimal sowing period of fresh faba beans should be around November 2, and the reasonable density should between 30 000 and 37 500 stain/hm2.

(2) The earliest sowing period for greenhouse cultivation in this experiment was on October 22, which was the same as the sowing period for open-air cultivation. Studies proved that the sowing period of fresh faba beans could be 10 to 20 days earlier.

(3) Practices proved that there were several points to be noticed for greenhouse cultivation of fresh faba beans. Firstly, fresh faba beans for greenhouse cultivation can be sowed earlier to increase output. Secondly,two beans can be planted in one hole to ensure total seedlings. Thirdly,polythene-covered frame should be set up when the average daily temperature was less than 0 ℃. Fourthly,the temperature within the frame should not be over 30 ℃during the flowering period,and the field humidity should not be over 80%. Fifthly, diseases and insect pests prevention method for both the greenhouse cultivation and the open-air cultivation were the same.Once there was a sick strain, the plant should be pulled out and thrown away. Sixthly, fertilizer management should be higher than the open-air cultivation method, which was beneficial for the plants growth.

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