ABSTRACT
WATER STRESS AND IRRIGATION FREQUENCY IN BEANS (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Osear Miranda N.1 y Ciro Belmar N.2
 
Two field experiments were conducted on a volcanic ash soil of the Ñuble province, Chile, in the 1974-75 and 1975-76 seasons, in order to measure the effect of water stress induction during three periods of bean development and two soil moisture levels. The research showed a significant effect of irrigation frequency on beans yield in both seasons. Number of poods per plant and weight of 1.000 seeds were affected and grain yield was reducted significantly by moisture stress of soil during the states of vegetative growth, flowering and grain seed formation. The effect of stress was greater with the 30% available moisture irrigation frequency and changed from one season to the other mainly due to the amount of rain during the stress period.
Keywords:
1Ing. Agr., Programa Riego, Estación Experimental Quilamapu, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA) , Casilla 426, ChilIán, Chile. 2Téc. Agr., Programa Fertilidad de Suelos, Estación Experimental Quilamapu, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA), Casilla 426, Chillán, Chile.