Different Harvest Dates Due to Suppression in Some Phenological Phase of Bean.

Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the Brazilian population main dish, and it also helps small and medium farmers’ income. Bean water stress results in accelerated maturity and grain yield reduction. Drought stress is one of the limiting factors for crop growth and yield which reduces dry matter production and yield components through decreasing leaf area and accelerating leaf senescence.  The objective of this study was to compare different harvest dates of bean Carioca group IAC Alvorada due to suppression in some phenological phase of bean. The experiment was conducted in pots in a greenhouse at Univ. Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Botucatu – São Paulo - Brazil.  Treatments were based on water depth applied at different critical periods in the bean crop: VI (V1 – V3), VII (V4 – flowering), flowering, pod formation and filling pod. The statistical design was randomized blocks with thirty-two treatments and four replications in 9 L pots. Irrigation was conducted to increase the soil water content to the condition equivalent to soil field capacity. The pots were irrigated when the soil water tension reached about 35 kPa. The tensiometer was used to detect this range. The lack of irrigation at some stage or at some stages of common bean affects the crop harvest season. Treatment with irrigation in all stages had a normal cycle (about 90 days). Treatments with water suppression during flowering and/or pod formation and/or filling pod, but irrigated during vegetative stage, were harvested in the same date than the treatment with irrigation in all stages.  Water suppression during flowering, pod formation or filling pod accelerated maturation. Treatments harvested at the same date that the treatment with irrigation in all stage: treatments with water suppression: during flowering, pod formation and filling pod; during pod formation and filling pod; during flowering and filling pod; during flowering and pod formation; during pod formation; and during filling pod.  Treatments with water suppression during vegetative stage (V1 to V3 (VI) or V4 to flowering (VII)) delayed the normal development cycle of the bean and they were harvested 17 days after the normal cycle. Some treatments that delayed the cycle and they were the latest harvested were irrigation: only pod formation stage; only filling pod stage; pod formation and filling pod stages; VI and  pod formation stages; VII and pod formation stages;  VII and filling pod stages; flowering and filling pod stages; VII, flowering and filling pod stages; VI, pod formation and filling pod stages; VII, flowering and pod formation stages; flowering, pod formation and filling pod; and water suppression only during VI stage.