Simplified Growth Analysis of Non-climbing Dry Beans at Three Spacings in the Tropics

SUMMARYGrowth characteristics of dry bean genotypes of determinate (Type I), indeterminate small vine (Type II), and indeterminate large vine (Type III) types were evaluated over three spacings and two growing seasons. Important observations include: (1) Type I did not give increased yields in response to planting rows closer together in Trial II because there was a large decrease in harvest index, which did not occur for Types II and III; (2) accumulation of reproductive nodes prior to anthesis is important for high yields, as are biological yield, harvest index and leaf area; and (3) within-habit spacing combinations, factors such as flowering duration, branch-, leaf- and raceme-numbers, and stem length could not be used to predict yield.