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Phenological development in bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) transferred from 14 to 11 h photoperiods
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 March 2009
Summary
Aspects of the photoregulation of phenological development in bambara groundnut were studied in a glasshouse experiment in The Netherlands. The influence of a 14 h photoperiod (which retards podding) during a period of variable length prior to an 11 h photoperiod (which induces podding) on flowering, yield and on the position of pods on the plants was determined. The third generation of three plants of genotype ‘Ankpa 4’ from Nigeria was used as the split-plot factor in a split-plot design with three replicates. The main plots were four daylength treatments: a period of 21, 28, 41 or 54 days under the 14 h photoperiod before transference to the 11 h photoperiod. Plants transferred after 28 or more days started flowering sooner the earlier they were transferred. Plants transferred after 21 and 28 days began flowering at the same time (51 days after sowing), thus indicating juvenility. At harvest, 135 days after sowing, the total seed dry weight per plant was higher for plants transferred after 41 and 54 days than for plants transferred after 21 days. Plants transferred after 28 days gave an intermediate value. Most (79–91%) pods were produced on branches that developed on nodes 1–4 of the main axis. There were no differences in the fractional distribution of the pods along the main axis in plants transferred after 28 or more days. Pods of plants transferred after 21 and 28 days were more evenly distributed over the nodes of the first two primary branches than pods of plants transferred after 41 and 54 days. Plants of the latter treatments produced their pods more towards the tips of the branches and concentrated on two neighbouring nodes (nodes 5 and 6 for plants transferred after 41 days and nodes 6 and 7 for plants transferred after 54 days). Delaying the induction of podding in this experiment therefore resulted in higher seed yields per plant and a more synchronized development and hence maturity of pods.
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