Chemical quality of common beans as influenced by genotype and aluminium rates under two soil liming regimes

Abstract

Soil acidity affects seed yield and crop quality negatively due to aluminium toxicity in most humid tropics where the crop is cultivated for food and cash income by smallholder farmers. This study was conducted to assess the effect of different exchangeable aluminium concentrations on bean chemical quality of two common bean genotypes grown on lime-treated and lime-untreated soils. Factorial combinations of five aluminium rates (0.0, 12.5, 25.0, 50.0, and 100.0 mg Al/ kg soil) and two common bean genotypes (New BILFA 58 and Roba 1) were laid out in a completely randomized design with three replications. For each treatment, four plants were raised per pot in the vegetation hall of Nekemte Soil Laboratory, western Ethiopia. The experiment was established in two sets: lime-treated soil and lime-untreated soil. The results revealed that aluminium toxicity caused major changes in the composition of the common beans. Significant differences (P