Effect of Soil Mulching and Irrigation Regimes on Morphophysiological Traits and Yield of Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Genotypes

• Masouma Hussen Mohammad 1, Hamzah Mohsin Kadhim 1, and Ali Hussen Jasim1

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This study aimed to evaluate the response of four fava bean genotypes (local, Spanish, Indian, and Turkish) to three soil mulching treatments (no mulching, rice husk, and black polyethylene) under two irrigation intervals (7 and 14 days). A field experiment was conducted during the 2025–2026 growing season at the College of Agriculture – Al-Qasim Green University, following a split-split plot arrangement in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. Genotypes were assigned to main plots, mulching treatments to subplots, and irrigation intervals to sub-subplots.

The results revealed significant differences between genotypes in all studied traits, with the Turkish genotype performing best in most of them [number of pods (32.34 pods/plant), 100-seed weight (174.31 g), plant yield (110.39 g/plant), and seed protein content (31.37%)]. Soil mulching also showed significant improvements in all studied traits compared to the control, except for harvest index. Irrigation period significantly affected all traits except 100-seed weight and number of seeds per pod. Meanwhile, the triple interaction between factors had a significant effect on all studied traits.

These results indicate that combining soil mulching with regular irrigation effectively helps improve morphophysiological performance and yield components of fava bean. Planting the Turkish genotype using soil mulching is recommended to ensure highest productivity under water shortage conditions.

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