Abstract

Marcus N. Bekele , A. H. Gerima, H. K. Derartu and Meles G. E.

An experiment was conducted in the laboratory at Ambo university, Ambo to investigate the effect of copper sulphate levels on germination and seedling growth of three haricot bean cultivars: Atendaba, Argene and Nassier. Five copper sulphate levels (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mM) were evaluated in a factorially arranged Complete Randomized Design with four replications. The study revealed that cultivars differed significantly in germination, shoot and root lengths, shoot and root fresh weights, and seedling and root dry weights. No significant difference was observed in shoot dry weight, seedling and shoot vigor indices, tolerance index, and root phytotoxicity. The cultivar Nassier showed high tolerance index, and low shoot and root phytotoxicity compared to other cultivars. The copper sulphate levels did not induce differences in germination. The seedling, shoot and root fresh and dry weights; seedling, shoot and root vigour indices; and tolerance index decreased significantly with increased copper sulphate concentration. Phytotoxicity of shoot and root increased significantly with increase in copper sulphate concentrations