Plant water relations and nutrient uptake in French bean

Summary Field investigations carried out at the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore, during 1985–1986 and 1986–1987 with French bean crops indicated that irrigation when soil matric potential at 0.15 m depth reached — 45 kPa resulted in highest dry matter production, green pod yield, nutrient uptake and water use efficiency (WUE) as compared to irrigations scheduled at -65 or -85 kPa. The difference in pod yield between irrigations scheduled at -25 and -45 kPa was not significant. Increasing soil moisture stress increased the canopy temperature and adversely affected plant water relations. There was a quadratric relationship between green pod yield and evapotranspiration (ET) with the yield-maximising ET ranging between 268 and 299 mm. Nitrogen fertilization significantly increased green pod yield, nutrient uptake and WUE but had no marked effect on water relations and canopy temperature.Contribution No. 234/88 of Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore, India