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A field experiment was conducted at Agronomy Field Unit, Zonal Agricultural Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, G.K.V.K., Bengaluru during Kharif, 2012 to study the effect of foliar application of water soluble NPK fertilizer on growth, yield and quality of lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus L.). The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with eight treatments replicated thrice using a bush type lima bean variety. The results revealed that application of 25:50:25 kg NPK ha-1 + foliar application of WSF at branching, 50% flowering and pod development stage (T8) recorded significantly higher seed yield (1408 kg ha-1) than control (1007 kg ha-1), higher net returns, B: C ratio (Rs.1,14,398 ha-1 and 4.8, respectively) when compared to control (Rs.93,419 ha-1 and 3.7, respectively). Further, higher NPK uptake (80.38, 19.5 and 98.05 kg ha-1, respectively) was also registered with the same treatment than the control (52.49, 10.77 and 58.15kg ha-1 respectively) which reflected on higher protein content of 21.7 per cent where as other quality parameters such as fat and fibre content were not significantly affected by the foliar nutrition of water soluble fertilizers.

Key words: Lima bean, Water soluble fertilizer (WSF), Foliar application, Nutrient uptake