Nitrogen and phosphorus uptake and nitrogen fixation estimation of faba bean in western Canada
Serena Roslyn Klippenstein, Hamid Khazaeı, Albert Vandenberg, J.J. Schoenau
Abstract
Abstract Faba bean ( Vicia faba L.) has very efficient dinitrogen (N 2 ) fixation, the greatest among grain legumes. The main aims of this study were to investigate the effect of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilizers on yield, N and P uptake, and biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) potential of faba bean. Four faba bean cultivars (‘CDC Snowdrop’, ‘219‐16’, ‘Snowbird’, and ‘Tabasco’) were grown in a 2‐yr field experiment at four site‐locations in Saskatchewan, Canada, during 2016 and 2017. In addition, a controlled‐environment study was also conducted to address how P fertilization influences growth and proportion of nitrogen derived from the atmosphere (%Ndfa) through BNF in 2017. Yield was not significantly affected by cultivar, fertilization or site‐location, however, N and P uptake were significantly affected to varying degrees by all three effects. The average faba bean grain yield was 5,280 kg ha –1 in field experiments. Average grain N uptake (117–300 kg N ha –1 ) and P uptake (15–35 kg P ha –1 and 34–80 kg P 2 O 5 ha –1 ) were significantly greater than straw N and P uptake in the field. An estimated 88% Ndfa was obtained in the controlled‐environment study and 230 kg N ha –1 of N uptake was observed in aboveground biomass (grain and straw) in the field experiments. Results support the efficiency of N 2 fixation in this species in western Canada.