EFFECTS OF VARIETIES AND RELATIVE PLANTING TIME OF CLIMBING COMMON BEAN IN MAIZE BEAN INTERCROPPING IN YIELD AND YIELD RELATED TRAITS OF THE COMPONENT CROPS AT HARO SABU,WESTERN ETHIOPIA

Maize and climbing common bean intercropping is one of the major maize based cropping system in Haro Sabu District. The field study was conducted at Haro Sabu Agricultural Research Center, during 2018 with the objective of assessing the effects of varieties and relative planting date of climbing common bean intercropping with maize on yield and yield related traits of the component crops and productivity of the system. The experiment was laid out in Randomized complete Block design (RCBD) with three replication in factorial combination of three climbing common bean varieties (Dandesu, Tibe and Waragutu) and four dates of planting (the same days or simultaneous planting, 7 days after planting of maize, 14 days after planting maize and 21days after planting maize) along with respective sole crop of climbing common bean varieties and maize hybrid shone (PHB30G19). significantly affected days to tasseling(DT),days to silking (DS),leaf area(LA),leaf area index(LAI), plant height(PH), number of ears per plant(NEPP), thousand kernel weight(TKW), above ground bio mass(AGBM),harvest index(HI) and grain yield(GY) of maize. Simultaneous planting significantly delayed phonological parameters as compared to other planting time. The highest LAI (3.31cm2) was obtained from 14days after planting maize (DAPM) and NEPP (1.20) was obtained from 21DAPM, the TKW (276.4g) were obtained at 7 DAPM from variety Tibe. Maize grain yield (GY) was significantly) affected by the main effects of date of planting. The highest maize GY (7.05t ha-1) was obtained from 21 DAPM. The highest AGBM (16.70t ha-1) was obtained from 21DAPM and the highest (HI) (35.85) was obtained from14DAMP. Sole cropped maize significantly delayed DT and DS, increase PH, NEPP, AGBM, GY and HI than the respective intercrop. Days to 50% flower initiation (D50%FI), Days to physiological maturity (DPM), Number of primary branches (NPB), Number of pods plant-1(NPPP), Number of seeds per pod (NSPP), Hundred seed weight (HSW) and Grain yield (GY) of climbing common bean indicated significant difference under date of planting. The highest NPPP (24.06) and NSPP (5.07) were obtained from variety tibe. The highest GY (2.36 tha-1) was obtained from intercropping of variety tibe and 14 DAPM. The highest LER (1.76) and (1.61) was obtained from 14 DAPM and variety Tibe, respectively. The highest GMV (54076 ETB ha-1) and (48393 ETB ha-1) was obtained from 14 DAPM and climbing common bean variety Tibe receptively. Based on this study intercropping of maize with Tibe variety at14 DAPM could be recommended for the study area