Performance of Faba Beans (Vicia faba L) Cultivars Grown in New Agro-ecological Region of Sudan (Southern Sudan )

Field experiments were conducted in (2004\05 and 2005\06) growing seasons in the Main Campus Farm of Upper Nile University (Malakal), to investigate growth and yield components of faba bean (Vicia faba L) cultivars, H-93, BB-7 and Sm-L, under Southern Sudan environment compared with the yield of recommended areas for commercial production of faba bean . The agronomical parameters (plant height, number of branches/plant, number of nodes/ plant, number of podded nodes /plant, number of the pods/plant, number of seed /pod , number of seed /plant, dry matter production, seed yield /plant, 1000 seed weight and yield kg/hectare were taken. The layout followed was the randomized complete block design with three replications. The temperature of Malakal was 29-37C. It was high compared with other recommended area of production of faba bean in Sudan. The results of growing three cultivars in Malakal environment revealed some differences for plant height but those differences were not significant for the two seasons. Meanwhile, the number of branches, number of nodes per plant and total dry matter revealed significant differences in the second season (2005/06) only. Number of podded nodes per plant was highly significant for the two seasons. For yield traits the number of seeds per plant and the number of pods per plant showed significant difference for the two seasons. On the other hands 100 seed weight and number of seeds per pod showed no significant differences for the two seasons that the traits were genetically controled and not affected by environment. BB-7, Sm-L and H-93 revealed higher productivity (2742 kg/ha, 3005 kg/ha and 2556 kg/ha) for the average of 4 locations while their productivity in Malakal was sharply declined to 702.3 kg/ha, 641.1 kg/ha and 928.6 kg/ha respectively. As general H-93 showed the highest values in growth and yields compared with the other cultivars. Significant differences were noticed between the two seasons and these encourage more research for appropriate sowing date and optimum watering intervals