Impact of Tillage Depths and Different Types of Phosphorus Fertilizers on Broad Bean Production

Tillage depth and fertilizer type are critical factors affecting broad bean production. Conventional fertilizers provide essential nutrients, but recent developments in nanofertilizers can offer potential benefits such as improved nutrient efficiency and reduced environmental impact.

A field experiment was conducted in Al-Qurna District, north of Basrah Governorate, during the 2022–2023 winter growing season to study the effects of three tillage depths (10, 20 and 30 cm) and three types of fertilizer treatments (F0 without fertilizer, F1 triple superphosphate (21% P) fertilizer at a rate of 60 kg P/ha applied in a single dose before planting and F2 nanophosphorus fertilizer at 1.5 liters/experimental unit at a rate of 3 g/L applied in two doses at stem elongation (3 clearly extended nodes, BBCH code 33) and fruit development (50% of pods reached final length, BBCH code 75) on yield components and yield of broad bean. A randomized complete block design with three replicates was used to carry out the experiment in accordance with the split plot arrangement. Tillage depths were located in the main plots and fertilizers of various types were located in the subplots.

The results showed that different tillage depths had a significant effect, as the depth of 30 cm recorded a significant superiority in plant height 39.89 cm, number of seeds per square meter 103.44 seeds/m², pod fresh weight 427.33 g/m² and biological yield 1302.78 g/m². The fertilizer type F2 was superior in plant height 42.44 cm, number of seeds per square meter of 104.67 seeds/m², weight of 100 seeds 247.56 g, pod fresh weight of 432.00 g/m² and biological yield of 1183.89 g/m². The interaction also had a significant effect on most of the studied traits.