The objective of this experiment was to evaluate changes in leaf area index, plant height, number of nodes, inter-node length and legumes height above soil surface of drybean plants cultivated in different plant populations and row spacings. The experiment was conducted during 1997/98 growing season in the experimental field of the Rural Engineering Department ofthe Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria - RS, Brazil. The drybean cultivar BR-FEPAGRO 44 - Guapo brilhante, (type II) was submitted to three plant populations (175, 250 and 325 thousand plants há-1) and three row spacing (35, 50 and 65cm). A completely randomized design, factorial, was used with four replications. Sprinkler irrigations were applied when maximum crop evapotranspiration, determined based on class "A" evaporation pan, indicated an accumulated value of 25mm. Results demonstrated that the increase in plant population increased leaf area index during the vegetative period. However, during the reproductive period the leaf area index was more affected by row spacing. The leaf area of individual plants, plant height and the number of nodes increased as plant population decreased. The legume height above soil surface presented a quadratic response in relation to plant population. The inter-node length was not affected by the different plant population and row spacing tested.
irrigation; crop system; drybean; mechanical harvest
