Improving the Growth and Productivity of Two Varieties of Mung Bean (Vigna radiata L.) by using Different Cultivation Methods and Dates

Green and black varieties for (Vigna radiate L.) play a distinct role in securing part of the requirements of food security in light of the increasing population in the world, as they are characterized by containing a high percentage of protein 19-29%, in addition to their ability to stabilize atmospheric nitrogen by their root nod and the amount ranges from 35-180 kg nitrogen per hectare per year (Torabian et al., 2019). The production capacity of any variety, whatever its specifications, is affected by the service processes applied according to the correct scientific foundations.Therefore, it was necessary for specialists to invest ways to raise the productivity of these compositions and improve their quality and one of the most important ways to achieve this goal is to pay attention to the date of planting, as the best date for planting mung bean varies according to the environment and the requirements of the variety. One of the studies conducted to find out the extent of variation between varieties is the study of Ali et al., (2021) in their experiment, which included studying the characteristics of two varieties of mungbean, reached the superiority of the variety (AZRI, 2006) in the characteristics: plant height, leaf area, leaf area index, number of branches, seed yield and number of seeds. (Ali, 2021; Rai et al., 2024) when comparing two varieties of mungbean, as the (Shewa, Robi) varieties significantly outperformed the characteristics of plant height and number of pods / plant (Abdulqader et al., 2021; Ali et al., 2021). There were variances between each characteristic and significant superiority in the traits. Khatik et al., (2022) stated in their experiment that included the study of 7 varieties of mung bean that the two varieties (Opal-AU, Jade-AU) outperformed the rest of the varieties in the description of the leaf area index. Ali et al., (2023); Dikr (2023); Ali et al., (2023); Christian et al., (2023); Priya and Babu, (2024); Arya et al., (2024) showed in a comparative experiment varieties of mung bean significantly superior to the (Arkebe) variety in the seed yield traits over the rest of the varieties used in the study.
       
The planting date is of great importance in the cultivation of the crop, as it varies according to the sites where the crop is grown. The height of the plant is important for leguminous crops because of its direct impact on the components of the yield, especially the characteristics of the number of pods and the number of fruit branches in the plant, as well as its direct relationship to resistance to lying down and suitability for mechanical harvesting. The study by Rehman et al., (2009) indicated that optimal planting time improves the growth and yield qualities of the mungbean crop that correspond to optimal environmental conditions. While early planting of mungbean varieties achieves the best vegetative growth before flowering, this improves the formation of the best number of pods (Singh and Singh, 2011). From previous studies on planting dates, From the results of the experiment of (Ali et al., 2021; Eshanee et al., 2023) to study planting dates, where it is noted that there are differences between dates and the superiority of the early date by giving the highest significant averages for the characteristics of plant height, number of branches, seed yield, number of seeds.pod, biologcal yield and harvest index.
       
Cultivation methods play an important and distinctive role in most of the characteristics of the mungbean and therefore have a clear impact on the productivity of this crop more than others and from previous studies on this subject we connect (Singh et al., 2011) by studying the response of the mungbean crop to two methods of cultivation, namely furrow and broadcasting, where the method of furrow excelled in giving the best seed yield. Ram et al., (2018) mentioned when studying the effect of mungbean cultivation methods (boards and furrow), as the method of cultivators significantly excelled in the characteristic of plant height, number of branches and weight of 100 seeds, while no significant differences were recorded between the cultivation methods for the yield characteristic and some of its components. From the results of Mota et al., (2021) when comparing two methods of planting mash (furrow and gore), as the planting method outperformed morally in the characteristic of the yield and its components over the prose method. As a result of the above. The study aimed to study the varieties, their cultivation methods and their planting dates, as they are among the practices and processes available to all farmers in Iraq.

The field study was carried out in two sites, the first is a field in Nineveh Governorate and the second is in Erbil Governorate / Republic of Iraq. Table 1 show properties of soil in two locations, to find out the effect of three factors on the productivity of the mungbean crop The first factor: the two local varieties of mungbean (black and green), the second factor: cultivation methods (furrow and lines), the third factor: three planting dates and three planting dates (May 15, June 15 and July 15). Phosphate fertilization was added at once before planting in the form of triple superphosphate (45% P₂O₅) and 75 kg P₂O₅. ha^-1, while nitrogen fertilizer was added in the form of urea (46% N. ha^-1) 16 days after planting, add both types of fertilizer (N and P) by broadcasting. The study was designed as a factor experiment with a design (R.C.B.D) with 3 replicates.
 

       
The experimental land was plowed orthogonally plowed and then divided into experimental units with dimensions of 3×1.8 m. The experimental unit contained 6 lines or furrow with a length of 3 meters and the distance between the lines or furrow is 30 cm. Immediately after planting, the experiment was irrigated and then the irrigation process was repeated depending on the plant’s need and soil moisture. I have studied the following qualities: germination percentage, number of branches. plant^-1, plant height (cm), leaf area (cm². plant^-1), leaf area index, pod length (cm), number of pods.plant^-1, number of seeds. pod^-1, weight of 1000 seeds (gm), bioyield yield (gm. plant^-1), seed yield (gm.plant^-1) and harvest index (%). The data were analyzed by the design used and the averages were compared using the L.S.D. test by Genstat program. 

First location
 
The results of the statistical analysis indicated that the differences were significant between the two varieties of mungbean used in this study and shown in Table 2 for the first site, as the significant superiority was in favor of the second variety of mungbean in the characteristics of number of branches.plant^-1, (4.717 branches.plant^-1), leaf area (1323.2 cm², plant^-1), leaf area index (3.308), number of seeds.pod^-1, (10.71 seeds.pod^-1), weight of 1000 seeds (44.54 gm), seed yield (8.60 gm) and biological yield 26.52 gm). while the first variety significant superiority in traits plant height (61.50 cm), (pod length (9.44 cm), number of pods.plant^-1, (21.77 pods.plant^-1) and harvest index (32.54 %) and this is proven by the studies of Abdulqader et al., (2021); Ali et al., (2021); Khatik et al., (2022); Ali et al., (2023); Christian et al., (2023); Dikr (2023); Ali et al., (2023); Priya and Babu (2024).
 

       
The results of Table (2) indicated the significant impact of planting dates, as planting in the third date has significantly surpassed the other dates in the characteristics of germination % (81.92%), pod length (9.96 cm), weight of 1000 seeds (44.88 gm) and harvest index (33.88 %). While the second date outperformed the other dates for the characteristics of plant height (65.83 cm), number of branches.plant^-1, (5.650. branches.plant^-1), leaf area (1328.2 cm², plant^-1), leaf area index (3.330), number of pods.plant^-1 (22.09 pods.plant^-1), seed yield (9.17 gm) and biological yield (28.99 gm) and recorded a significant superiority for the first date over the rest of the dates in this study for the number of seeds.pod^-1 (9.97 seeds.pod^-1) this is confirmed by the result of Abdulqader et al., (2021); Ali et al., (2021); Eshanee et al., (2023).
       
While the results of the statistical analysis in Table (2) indicated that there can be significant variations in the methods of cultivation, as it significant superiority the first cultivation method and for all the studied traits plant height (59.83 cm), number of branches.plant^-1 (5.017 branches. plant^-1), leaf area (1333.5 cm², plant^-1, leaf area index (3.340), pod length (9.26 cm), number of pods.plant^-1 (21.30 pods.plant^-1), number of seeds.pod^-1 (9.76 seeds.pod^-1), weight of 1000 seeds (45.80 gm), seed yield (8.90 gm) and biological yield (27.90 gm), except for the Germination % and harvest index traits, no significant differences were recorded between the cultivation methods for this site and the result agreed with Singh et al., (2011); Ali, (2021); Ram et al., (2018).
 
Second location
 
Through the results of this study, the statistical results in Table (3) showed that the varieties have a significant effect, as they significantly superiority the second vareity in the characteristics of germination % (80.46%), leaf area (1278.8 cm², plant^-1), leaf area index (3.197), number of pods (20.72 pods.plant^-1), seed yield (8.301 gm) and biological yield (25.99 gm), while the first vareity significantly outweighed plant height (58.83 cm), number of branches.plant^-1 (58.83 branches.plant^-1), pod length (10.345 cm), number of seeds.pod^-1 (9.98 seeds.pod^-1), weight of 1000 seeds (43.79 gm) and harvest index (33.77 %) This result is similar to the research results of (Ali et al., 2021; Dikr (2023).
 

       
Planting dates recorded a significant impact on the studied traits, as it significantly superiority the 3 date of planting in the traits of germination % (80.67 %), plant height (61.17 cm) and number of pods (21.93 pods.plant^-1), while the first planting date exceeded all other traits Number of branches.plant^-1 (5.692 branches.plant^-1), Leaf area (1297.8 cm², plant^-1), Leaf area index (3.245), Number of seeds.pod^-1 (10.20 seeds.pod^-1), Weight of 1000 seeds (43.97 gm), seed yield (8.848 gm), (26.57 gm) and Harvest index (33.77 %) except for the pod length trait (10.422 cm), where it significantly superiority the second planting date. This is similar to what this research showed (Ali et al., 2021).
       
The second planting method has a significant superiority compared to the first method for the traits of germination % (78.50%), number of pod (20.91 pods.plant^-1), while the first method of cultivation significantly superiority in the characteristics of plant height (57.76 cm), number of branches (5.550 branches.plant^-1), leaf area (1359.4 cm², plant^-1), leaf area index (3.398), pod length (10.479 cm), pod length (10.479 cm), number of seeds.pod^-1 (10.01 seeds.pod^-1), weight of 1000 seeds (43.62 gm), seed yield (8.427 gm), biological yield (25.20 gm) and harvest index (33.51 %) all of this is similar to the studies of (Singh et al., 2011; Ram et al., 2018).
 
Varieties
 
The nature of the growth of the mungbean differs from other crops due to the diversity of varieties among them and this is reflected in the maturity and seed size (Dodwadiya and Sharma, 2012). The reason for the variation of genetic structures in the studied traits is due to the different genetic nature and thus the difference in their response to the photoperiod, temperature and environmental conditions, that the reason for the superiority of the variety in the characteristics of the yield and its components is due to the superiority of the same variety in the traits of vegetative growth the germination %, plant height, number of branches, leaf area and its evidence tabules (2 and 3), which positively affected the speed of growth and increase the efficiency of photosynthesis and then the products of representation contributed to the formation of new branches on the plant, so an appropriate paper space was formed and thus the processing of sites new evolution with the requirements of growth is less abortion, which helped in the concentration of nutrients processed by photosynthesis, which contributed to increasing the division and elongation of cells these traits have contributed collectively to increasing the transmission of processed photosynthetic products to the seed formed and thus filling and increasing its weight and this result was in line with what was confirmed by Arya et al., (2024);  Rai et al., (2024).
 
Planting dates
 
The dates of planting leguminous crops are complex due to the belonging of varieties to multiple maturity groups and are greatly affected by the environment and it is necessary to determine the appropriate date for planting varieties with unknown environmental adaptation in order to obtain compatibility between vegetative and fruitful growth and this is determined by the appropriate planting date for each region (Venkatshwarulu and Soundararajan, 1991). The planting dates of the first or second in this study allowed the plants a better period of vegetative growth, which improved the division of plant cells and elongation more than the late date (third) as a result of the availability of appropriate conditions for growth and the availability of all the necessary needs for that, which led to an improvement of the characteristics of the yield and its components It is known that the date of planting for crops varies from one country to another and from one region to another according to environmental and climatic conditions and the sites in which it is grown. The late planting date is a major reason for the increase in the costs of agricultural operations and at the same time the yield is low due to the short period of the crop growing season and the decrease in net photosynthesis, while planting on time (optimal) ensures the best compatibility between environmental and plant conditions and this contributes significantly to improving the qualities of the crop and thus the yield. The study by Rehman et al., (2009) also indicated that optimal planting time improves the growth and yield qualities of the mash crop that correspond to optimal environmental conditions. While early planting of mash varieties achieves the best vegetative growth before flowering and this improves the formation of the best number of pods Singh and Singh (2011).
 
Cultivation method
 
It is possible that the superiority of the method of cultivation furrow in the traits of the yield and its components is due to the superiority of this method with all the traits of growth (plant height, number of branches, leaf area and leaf area index) because the plants that were planted in the method of furrow gave a significant superiority to the characteristic of plant height and this enabled plants to intercept the largest amount of lighting and thus increase the process of photosynthesis and all processes that improve growth and production and this increases the net photosynthesis and resulted in a significant increase in the characteristic of number of branches, this was reflected in a significant increase in the characteristics of leaf area and leaf area index as a result of the higher place of planting seeds in this way compared to planting with lines and this result was obtained Singh et al., (2011) when comparing cultivation in furrow and lines. Also, the transplant route in furrow prevents the accumulation of excess water above the plant’s need over the soil and thus reduces the oxygen necessary for the respiration of the roots, which has a negative impact on the growth of the roots and the plant in general, especially if the soils are heavy clay.
       
Other factors may have an impact on the productivity of this crop that we have not addressed and therefore more future research must be conducted.

The results of this study encourage Iraqi farmers to plant local green or black varieties of mungbean according to the trait to be improved and to apply the cultivation factors used (the second and third planting dates and the first planting method) in both locations. From these results, farmers conclude that the yield and quality of the varieties will increase by increasing the agricultural area and yield of the mungbean crop. Varieties, dates, or methods yield consistent results across sites this encourages the generalization of the results of this study to additional agricultural areas, this will include Iraqi agricultural environments, especially in light of the conditions of drought and environmental variation, the necessity of creating sustainable cultivation of the mung crop and the corresponding significant increase in food needs.

The authors are very grateful to the University of Mosul/ College of Agriculture and Forestry for their provided facilities, which helped to improve the quality of this work.

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.