1 
 

 

 

Kurdistan Journal of Applied Research (KJAR)  

Print-ISSN: 2411-7684 | Electronic-ISSN: 2411-7706  

Volume 3 | Issue 1 | June 2018 | DOI: 10.24017/science.2018.1.1 

 

Received: February 22, 2018 | Accepted: March 14, 2018  
 

Effect of manganese and ascorbic acid on the 

growth and yield of faba bean (Vicia faba L.) 
   

Hand Jawad Kadiem Hawrez Ali Nadir  Ali Abbas Khraibet 

Plant Production Plant Production Plant Production 
Technical College of Applied Sciences  Technical College of Applied Sciences  Technical College of Applied Sciences  

 Sulaimani Polytechnic University   Sulaimani Polytechnic University   Sulaimani Polytechnic University  

Halabja, Kurdistan Region, Iraq  Halabja, Kurdistan Region, Iraq Halabja, Kurdistan Region, Iraq 
Hindjawad20@gmail.com  Hawrez.nadir@spu.edu.iq  ali_altai_65@yahoo.com  

Abstract - This study was carried out in the field of Halabja 

Technical College of Applied Sciences, Sulaimani Polytechnic 

University, during the year 2015-2016. The objective of the study is to 

investigate the effect of the foliar application of manganese and 

ascorbic acid on the growth and yield of (Vicia faba L.).The field 

experiment was included nine concentrations and combination Mn 

and AsA was applied, using complete randomized block design with 

three replicates. The highest value of yield and the number of 

branches per plant were 146.66 gm, 4.11 when plant applied Mn 40 
ppm+ AsA 60 pp (T9).  The maximum number of pods per plant 

(14.47) was given from T9 Mn 20 ppm+ AsA 60 ppm. The highest 

seed per pods was 2.26 obtained from (T8), and the maximum 100-

seeds weight was received from T2 AsA 30 ppm (45.43 gm). Thus, the 

greatest weight of pods was found from control and T2 AsA 30ppm 

(13.4 gm). The most length of pods and the height of plant were given 

from both (T4) Mn 20ppm and (T3) AsA 60ppm (9.49 cm) (106.87 cm) 

respectively. The lowest seed number per pods, 100-seed weight and 

length of pods were given from control, T3 and T5 (1.71, 33.12 gm 

and 8.06 cm) respectively. Then  T5 (Mn20ppm +AsA 30ppm) have 

given the minimum yield, weight of pods, plant height, number of 

branches per plant ( contributory wit-h T7) and number of pods per 

plant ( 41.66 gm, 10.10 gm, 81.98 cm, 3.25 and 4.46).  As a result, in 

this study, we can recommend to conduct more studies on 

micronutrients for different crops.   
Keyword: Faba bean, Manganese, Ascorbic acid, Yield, 

Growth, Foliar application. 

 

1. INTRODUCTION 
Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is a Mediterranean region 

cultivar crop; it belongs to the family of (Fabaceae) and 

consists of two subspecies Vicia faba L. and Vicia faba 

Paucijuga Murat [4, 8]. Consequently, among cool-

season crops faba bean is ranked fourth after pea, 

chickpea and lentil [1, 5, 8]. [6] reported that the faba 

bean is an ancient crop from the Mediterranean.   

Despite faba is well adapted to a wide range of 

ecological conditions and has become a basic inter crop 

in winter, the declining soil fertility due to loss of 

organic matter and cultivate them for the restoration N 

(nitrogen), and fixation N from faba bean increased the 

nitrogen to the next crop in the soil [1]. Faba bean 

contains protein, carbohydrate, fat, fiber, vitamins, and 

minerals, condense tannins, vicine and convicine which 

are used as food from human and animal [7, 9, 10, 16].   

Faba bean from Kurdistan-Iraq is cultivated for food as 

vegetable pods and dried beans, and is grown in rainfall 

area and somewhere irrigation condition can be 

cultivated in the different climatic zone [12]. Faba bean 

cultivation for higher yield has a high requirement for 

major element especially nitrogen [2]. The faba bean 

traditionally is cultivated in Kurdistan-Iraq. The faba 

bean intercropping is worldwide applied for increase 

yield and withstanding pest and diseases from the soil 

[3].  

Foliar application of fertilizer is to increase yield and 

quality of faba bean, and it has more impact than the 

application from the soil when the root withstands 

uptake the nutrition [13]. However, micro elements 

applied from the foliar are better than the soil [13,14]. 

Thus, both of manganese and ascorbic acid lead to 

increase yield in to the plant and shear in to the plant 

cells [15]. Manganese has a major role in faba bean such 

functions as photosynthesis and complex protein 

synthesis, manganese has also an important role in faba 

bean seed [15]. 

Cultivation area from in Iraq 2008 is 1250 hectors, and 

approximately production is (7000) tons [11] and [12]. 

The target of excellent plant nutrition is to guarantee that 

crops uptake the amount of nutrients need for optimal 

yield [15]. The aim of the study was to study the effect 

of the manganese and ascorbic acid on growth and yield 

of (Vicia faba L.) in order to develop and upgrade the 

production of the crop in Halabja, Kurdistan region – 

Iraq.      

2. MATERIAL AND METHOD  
The field experiment was carried out in the field of 

Halabja Technical College of Applied Sciences, 

Sulaimani Polytechnic University, during the year 2015-

2016. The complete randomized block design was used 

for the experiment with three replications. In this study, 

nine concentrations were used including controls 

sprayed by the distilled water (Table 1). Tow sprays 

were used, the first one month after germination, and the 

second was 15 days after that. The plants totally have 

being sprayed until wet them, using the hand-held 

sprayer, and manganese sulphate MnSO4-5H2O as 

source. 

Table 1: Concentration of manganese and ascorbic acid used in 

this study. 

T
re

a
tm

e
n

ts
 

Concentration (ppm) 

Ascorbic acid Manganese 

T1 Control(Distilled Water)   

distilled water T2 30  - 

mailto:Hindjawad20@gmail.com
mailto:Hawrez.nadir@spu.edu.iq
mailto:ali_altai_65@yahoo.com


2 

 

T3 60 - 

T4 - 20 

T5 30  20 

T6 60 20 

T7 - 40 

T8 30 40 

T9 60 40 

 

The experimental unit includes two rows with width 

60cm width and 5m length. The distance between plants 

was 25cm.  The cultivar used in this study was local 

variety. The experiment was sown on November17, 

2015, after conducting all the soil crop managements for 

this crop  

The effect of the treatments was studied, and data 

recorded on yield and yield attributes of the crop on ten 

randomly selected plants and the mean of each of 

number of pods/plant, weight of pods (gm), yield (gm), 

number of seeds/pod, length of pod (cm), plant height 

(cm), fresh weight 100 seeds (gm), and number of 

branches/plant were evaluated. The harvesting was 

carried out from April. The Statistical analysis were 

done by one way ANOVA, and the comparisons of 

means realized by the Bonferroni's multiple comparison 

range test at p<0.05, by the (GraphPad Prism version 

5.00) program.  

 

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
Collected data for yield analysis from foliar applications 

by manganese and ascorbic acid showed non-significant 

differences between the treatments at p<0.05 (Figure 1). 

The highest yield was found in the treatment T9 Mn+ 

Ascorbic acid 40ppm+60ppm (146.66 gm). the lowest 

was recorded from treatment T5 Manganese+ Ascorbic 

acid 20 ppm+30ppm (41.66 gm), and other treatments 

T2, T4, T3, T7, T6, T8 and T1( 145.66, 137.77, 131.66, 

128.77, 109.30, 108.33 and 91.0 gm)  respectively are 

found between the two values. The results were with 

other researches results [15], but contrast with [2].  

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9

1.0×100

2.0×100

4.0×100

8.0×100

1.6×101

3.2×101

6.4×101

1.3×102

2.6×102

Treatments

Y
ie

ld
 o

f 
P

la
n

t 
(g

m
)

 
Figure 1: The effect of manganese and ascorbic acid on the 

yield of plan in (gm). The columns show the mean of the 

yield and Error bar show the range of the yield. 

 

There were no significant differences between the 

treatments at p<0.05 in the number of seeds per pod 

Maximum number of seeds per pod was recorded from 

T8 Manganese 40ppm + Ascorbic 30 ppm (2.26 seeds) 

and the minimum number of seeds per pod was recorded 

from control (1.71seeds) (Figure 2). That local species of 

faba bean used for the study contain one or two seeds, 

but very tasty, and the average numbers of seed per pods 

are the same constant character for the cultivar species. 

The other treatments T6 (2.02 seeds), T4 (1.97 seeds),T9 
(1.95 seeds),T2 ( 1.93 seeds), T7 (1.92 seeds), T5 (1.90 

seeds) and T3 (1.86 seeds) are located between the two 

values. Comparable result was found by [8, 20, 21, and 

22] in faba bean, [19] in garden bean.  

 

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9

0

1.0×100

2.0×100

3.0×100

Treatments

N
u

m
b

e
r
 o

f 
S

e
e
d

s
/p

o
d

 
Figure 2: Effect of manganese and ascorbic acid on 

the number of seeds/pod.  
 

There were no significant differences between the 

treatments at p<0.05 in the number of seeds/pod. 

The maximum weight for hundred seeds was recorded 

from treatments of T2 Ascorbic acid 30 ppm. (45 .43gm), 

the minimum hundred seeds weight was recorded from 

the control (36.33gm) and the other treatments T9 
Mn40ppm + AsA 60ppm (41.43gm), T4 Mn 20ppm 

(41.12gm), T6 Mn 20ppm + AsA 60ppm (41.10gm), T7 

Mn 40 ppm (41.05 gm), T8 Mn 40ppm+AsA 30ppm 

(37.00gm), T5 Mn 20ppm + AsA 30ppm (38.86gm), are 

located between the two values (Figure 3).  [8, 21] 

worked on the faba bean obtained similar results. [19] 

was cited from [8] stating that the growing seasons affect 

the branch number per plant, it is caused to reduce the 

yield.  

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9

1.0×100

3.2×100

1.0×101

3.2×101

1.0×102

Treatments

  
1
0
0
- 

s
e
e
d

s
 w

e
ig

h
t 

(g
m

)

 
Figure 3: Effect of manganese and ascorbic acid on the 100 

seeds weight (gm). 

Information from (Figure 4) explain the weight of pods 

(gm), and the comparison between treatments dose not 

appeared significant differences at p<0.05. However, the 



3 

 

highest weight was obtained from treatments T1 control 

and T2 application ascorbic acid 30ppm (13.4 gm), and 

the lowest was given from treatment T5 foliar application 

Mn20ppm+ AsA30 ppm (10.10 gm).That results are 

contrast with [12]. So, the result revealed by the 

application of manganese and ascorbic acid did not 

affect the weight of pods, and these results is in 

agreement with [18] worked on faba bean with 

exogenous application of salicylic acid.  

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9

1.0×100

2.0×100

4.0×100

8.0×100

1.6×101

3.2×101

Treatments

w
e
ig

h
t 

o
f 

p
o

d
s
 (

g
m

)

 
Figure 4: Effect of manganese and ascorbic acid 

on the weight of pods per (gm). 

 
No significant differences were appeared between the 

treatments at p<0.05 regarding the pod length. Foliar 

application of T4 manganese 20 ppm on faba bean 

recorded the longest length of pod (9.49 cm), and that 

result is not a significant different comparison to the 

other parameters, the shortest length of pods was 

recorded from control (8.06 cm) and the other treatments 

T6 (9.43 cm), T9 (9.22 cm), T8 (9.16 cm), T3 (9.15 cm), 

T2 (9.03 cm), T7 (8.76 cm) and T5 (8.15 cm) are located 

between the two values (Figure 5). The results agree 

with [8, 22] in faba bean and [16] in green bean. Pod 

length is directly related to the genetic factors [22]. 

 

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9

0

5.0×100

1.0×101

1.5×101

Treatments

L
e
n

g
th

 o
f 

p
o

d
 (

c
m

)

 
 

Figure 5: Effect of manganese and ascorbic acid on the length 

of pods (cm). 

Plant height from different parameters were applied from 

the study; there was no significant interaction between 

parameters at p<0.05 (Figure 6). The highest plant was 

given from treatment T3 foliar application by ascorbic 

acid 60 ppm (106.87 cm), and the lowest was given from 

treatment T5 when applied Mn 20ppm and AsA 30ppm 

(81.98 cm). Approximately, the similar result were 

found from [21].That result is contrast with those [20] 

worked on 10 genotypes of faba bean, and the maximum 

record from was (50 cm) and [16] in green bean.  

 

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9

0

5.0×101

1.0×102

1.5×102

Treatments

H
e
ig

h
t 

o
f 

p
la

n
t 

(c
m

)

 
Figure 6: Effect of manganese and ascorbic acid on the height of 

plant (cm). 

 

The addition of manganese and ascorbic acid at different 

concentrations had no significant effect on the number of 

plant branches in faba bean at p<0.05 (Figure7). The 

highest number of branches was recorded from treatment 

T9 Mn 40ppm and AsA acid 60ppm (4.11),while the 

minimum value was 3.25 by each of T5 Mn 20ppm and 

AsA 30ppm and T7 Mn 40 ppm and the other treatments 

T2(3.83), T3(3.41), T8(3.40), T4 and T6(3.35) , T1(3.33) 

are between the two values. These results are in 

agreement with those of [12]. Similar results were found 

by [8, 21] that have worked on different genotypes of 

faba bean.  

 

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9

0

1.0×100

2.0×100

3.0×100

4.0×100

5.0×100

Treatments

N
u

m
b

e
r 

o
f 

B
ra

n
c
h

s
 (

p
la

n
t)

 
Figure 7: Effect of manganese and ascorbic acid on the 

number of branches were grown on the plant. 

 There were no significant differences between the 

treatments in the numbers of pods per plant at p<0.05 

(Figure 8). The highest number of pods per plant was 

found in (T9) Mn 40ppm and AsA acid 60ppm (4.46), 

and the lowest was recorded in treatment T5 Mn 20 ppm 

with AsA 30 ppm (6.23), and the other treatments T7 

(24.40),T5, (13.56) T3, (13.36)T2,  (12.93) T8, (11.56) 

T4, (11.16) T1 and (9.36) T6 are between the two values. 

Similar results were found with [16] study on faba bean 

and applied phosphorus fertilizers and foliar application 

with zinc. [22] reported 21.6 to 19.2 pods/plant for faba 



4 

 

bean genotypes in Eastern Africa, and [8] reported 9.6 to 

6.7 pods/plant for faba bean application method of 

phosphorus in faba bean in the absence of moisture 

stress, and also [17] reported 4.67 to 19.33 pods per 

plant   applying zinc, iron and manganese on green 

beans, and finally [21] reported  to 3.6 to 10.0 pods per 

plant working on faba bean (Vicia faba L.) in a short-

season Mediterranean-type environment.  

 

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9

0

5.0×100

1.0×101

1.5×101

2.0×101

2.5×101

Treatments

N
u

m
b

e
r
 o

f 
p

o
d

s
 (

p
la

n
t)

 
Figure 8: Effect of manganese and ascorbic acid on the 

number of pods per plant. 

4. CONCLUSION 
The results of this study have indicated that there was no 

significant effect for the addition of Manganese and 

Ascorbic acid on the characterizes of growth and yield 

for faba bean. Although, it is summarized that 

combination of the foliar application of manganese and 

ascorbic acid generally leads to the increasing of yield 

and it's components for faba bean. We suggest that more 

studies will be better about foliar application with 

another concentration of different microelements in the 

future.   
 

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