Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Improved production systems for common bean in south-central Uganda: I. Liddugavu soil, II. Limyufumyufu soil

“…Scatter-planting consists of randomly digging shallow holes throughout a field with a hand hoe and dropping a seed in the hole before covering the seed with soil. This method could be improved to planting beans in rows at an increased optimum density of 20 seeds m -2 (Uganda Export Promotion Board, 2005), which agrees with the range of bean densities described by Graham and Ranalli (1997). This planting method and density is ideal because beans planted in rows are easier to manage for pests such as insects, diseases, and weeds.…”

“…Beans are typically grown in low-input systems and are usually intercropped in combination with maize, cassava, yam, banana, coffee, and/or groundnuts (CIAT, 1989;Graham and Ranalli, 1997;Kimani et al, 2001). Although growing multiple crops is important to minimize the risk of crop failure, it has been shown that bean yields are reduced by intercropping with another crop (Kimani et al, 2001;).…”

“…Although beans are generally considered to be poor N fixers due to poor soil conditions, the ineffective native soil rhizobia, and the selection of early flowering cultivars for a short growth season (Hardarson et al, 1993;Graham and Ranalli, 1997), inoculation with an appropriate Rhizobium spp. has been shown to increase grain yields in East Africa .…”

“…It is also important to address low soil P to prevent severely reducing symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) or limiting root expansion (Graham and Ranalli, 1997;. Soil P is commonly the most limiting nutrient in Uganda and is the most frequently deficient nutrient in African soils with deficiency recorded in 65% of the bean producing areas of eastern Africa (Wortmann et al, 1998a;Ronner and Giller, 2012).…”

“…The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) was first domesticated in the upland regions of Latin America more than 7000 years ago (Graham and Ranalli, 1997) and likely spread into Africa during the slave trade and European colonization in the sixteenth century (CIAT, 1989;Graham and Ranalli, 1997;. Today, beans are the most important grain legumes in Uganda, producing 876,576 Mt of grain in 2014 (FAOSTAT, 2014) and ranking 9 th for production of beans in the world in 2011 (Ronner and Giller, 2012).…”