Assessment of growth and adaptation rate of mung beans (Vigna radiata) planted in different planting periods in Abagana, SouthEastern Nigeria

Abstract

Research was conducted to compare the growth characteristics, adaptation rate and attributes of mung beans (Vigna radiata) planted in different planting periods in Abagana, South Eastern Nigeria. The experiment was carried out at Bioresources Development Centre, Abagana, Anambra State, between February to April, May to July and August to October all in 2021. Mung beans seeds were planted using a planting distance of 30cm by 60cm in each planting period. The mung beans cultivated matured from nine to ten weeks after planting in each planting period and data was collected weekly in some phenotypic characteristics of the crop from the first week to the tenth week after planting. The highest mean values per plant of some agronomic characters collected from the field such as plant height (cm), number of leaves, length of leaves (cm), width of leaves (cm) and number of pods were 17.2cm, 18, 6.0cm, 4.8cm and 20 for those grown between February to April while those grown between May to July were 35.4cm, 39, 14.6cm, 12.9cm and 37, and those of August to October were 34.6cm, 37, 13.8cm, 13.0cm and 35.There were no significant difference (P>0.05) between the mung beans planted from May to July and those planted from August to October with respect to the above agronomic characters. Significant difference (P<0.05) existed between the mung beans planted from February to April when compared with those of May to July and August to October with respect to the above-mentioned agronomic characters. The result of the data collected from the field which was used as the plant adaptation parameters suggested that the mung beans grown between May to July and August to October had a better adaptation to the planting periods when compared with those grown from February to April 2021.