Fertilizer nitrogen and growth regulators for field beans (Vicia faba L.):I. The effects of seed bed applications of large dressings of fertilizer nitrogen and the residual effects on following winter wheat

SUMMARY Applying large dressings of fertilizer nitrogen to the seed bed lessened nodulation of spring field beans by as much as 50%. The largest mean responses to broadcast nitrogen ranged from 1·9 cwt grain/acre in 1967 (3 cwt N/acre) to 3·1 cwt grain in 1966 (3 cwt N/acre). About one-sixth of the nitrogen applied to beans was used by a following winter wheat at Rothamsted, one-twelfth at Woburn. The results suggest that there is no prospect for the economic use of fertilizer nitrogen in the seed bed for spring beans.