Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T04:38:12.852Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effects of short-term waterlogging on growth and yield of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

F. R. Minchin
Affiliation:
University of Reading, Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, Plant Environment Laboratory, Shinfield, Reading RG2 9AD, U.K.
R. J. Summerfield
Affiliation:
University of Reading, Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, Plant Environment Laboratory, Shinfield, Reading RG2 9AD, U.K.
A. R. J. Eaglesham
Affiliation:
University of Reading, Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, Plant Environment Laboratory, Shinfield, Reading RG2 9AD, U.K.
Katrine A. Stewart
Affiliation:
University of Reading, Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, Plant Environment Laboratory, Shinfield, Reading RG2 9AD, U.K.

Summary

When cowpea plants were grown in large pots under simulated tropical conditions, and were dependent on either symbiotic fixation or inorganic N for their total nitrogen requirements, short periods of waterlogging had adverse effects on vegetative growth and seed production. The effects of waterlogging were more acute as plants experienced stress at progressively earlier stages of development. In plants depending either on biologically fixed N or inorganic N, waterlogging before flowering reduced vegetative growth by about 50%. Although some compensation in vegetative growth occurred during the reproductive development of nodulated plants, seed yields in both cases were still 48% less than in unstressed plants. Depending on the stage of plant development, treatment effects were mediated largely through changes in branch, peduncle and flower production and/or abortion, which contributed directly to variations in the number of pods retained to maturity. Inorganic nitrogen stimulated vegetative growth but did not significantly improve seed yield compared with effectively nodulated plants.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alberda, Th., Louwerse, W. & Brouwer, R. (1964). The relation between salt and water uptake with intact and decapitated tomato plants. Jaarbroek Instituut voor biologisch en scheikundig onderzoek van landbouwgewassen 240, 6176.Google Scholar
Armstrong, W. (1975). Waterlogged Soils. In Environment and Plant Ecology (ed. Etherington, J. R.), pp. 181216. London: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Broue, P., Marshall, D. R. & Munday, J. (1976). The response of lupins to waterlogging. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 16, 549–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Criswell, J. G., Havelka, U. D., Quebedeaux, B. & Hardy, R. W. F. (1976). Adaptation of nitrogen fixation by intact soybean nodules to altered rhizosphere pO2. Plant Physiology 58, 622–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dart, P. J., Day, J. M. & Harris, D. (1972). Assay of nitrogenase activity by acetylene reduction. Food and Agriculture Organisation/International Atomic Agency Technical Report 149, 85100.Google Scholar
Dart, P. J., Huxley, P. A., Eaglesham, A. R. J., Minchin, F. R., Summerfield, R. J. & Day, J. M. (1977). Nitrogen nutrition of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). 2. Effects of short-term applications of inorganic nitrogen on growth and seed yield of nodulated and non-nodulated plants. Experimental Agriculture 13, 241–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eaglesham, A. R. J., Minchin, F. R., Summerfield, R. J., Dart, P. J., Huxley, P. A. & Day, J. M. (1977). Nitrogen nutrition of cowpea (Vigna unguiculota). 3. Distribution of nitrogen within effectively nodulated plants. Experimental Agriculture (in the Press).Google Scholar
Fakui, I. & Ito, R. (1952). Fertility of the soybean as affected by short periods of excessive soil moisture content at different growing periods. Proceedings of the Crop Science Society of Japan 20, 271–3. (Japanese with English summary.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcia-Novo, F. & Crawford, R. M. M. (1973). Soil aeration, nitrogen reduction and flooding tolerance in higher plants. New Phytologist 72, 1031–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hewitt, E. J. (1966). Sand and water culture methods used in the study of plant nutrition. Commonwealth Bureau of Horticulture and Plantation Crops Technical Communication 22, pp. 205–12.Google Scholar
Hong, T. D., Minchin, F. R. & Summerfield, R. J. (1977). Recovery of nodulated cowpea plants (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) from waterlogging during vegetative growth. Plant and Soil (in the Press).Google Scholar
International Institute Of Tropical Agriculture (1973). Farming Systems Program Annual Report. Ibadan, Nigeria, pp. 1018.Google Scholar
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (1977). Grain Legume Improvement Program in House Report. Ibadan, Nigeria, 64 pp.Google Scholar
Jackson, M. B. & Campbell, D. J. (1975). Movement of ethylene from roots to shoots, a factor in the responses of tomato plants to waterlogged soil conditions. New Phytologist 74, 397406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kramer, P. J. (1969). Plant and soil water relationships: a modern synthesis., 482 pp. London: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
McManmon, M. & Crawford, R. M. M. (1971). A metabolic theory of flooding tolerance. The significance of enzyme distribution and behaviour. New Phytologist 70, 299306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masefield, G. B. (1957). The nodulation of annual leguminous crops in Malaya. Empire Journal of Experimental Agriculture 25, 139–50.Google Scholar
Minchin, F. R., Huxley, P. A. & Summerfield, R. J. (1976). The effect of root temperature on growth and seed yield of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). Experimental Agriculture 12, 269–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minchin, F. R. & Pate, J. S. (1975). Effects of water, aeration and salt regime on nitrogen fixation in a nodulated legume – definition of an optimum root environment. Journal of Experimental Botany 26, 60–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minchin, F. R. & Summerfield, R. J. (1976). Symbiotic nitrogen fixation and vegetative growth of cowpea in waterlogged conditions. Plant and Soil 45, 113–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patrick, W. H. & Mahaptra, I. C. (1968). Transformation and availability to rice of nitrogen and phosphorus in waterlogging soils. Advances in Agronomy 20, 323–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peev, H. & Kolev, V. (1964). The effects of excess soil moisture on the development of beans. Rasten Nauki 1, 93102 (Bulgarian).Google Scholar
Quastel, J. H. (1965). Soil metabolism. Annual Review of Plant Physiology 16, 217–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowe, R. N. & Beardsell, D. V. (1973). Waterlogging of fruit trees. Horticultural Abstracts 43, 533–48.Google Scholar
Siman, A., Cradock, F. W. & Hudson, A. W. (1974). The development of manganese toxicity in pasture legumes under extreme climatic conditions. Plant and Soil 41, 129–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sprent, J. I. (1969). Prolonged reduction of acetylene by detached soybean nodules. Planta (Berlin) 88, 372–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sprent, J. I. (1976). Nitrogen fixation by legumes subjected to water and light stress. In Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Plants (ed. Nutman, P. S.), pp. 405–20. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sprent, J. I. & Gallacher, A. (1976). Anaerobiosis in soybean root nodules under water stress. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 8, 317–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Summerfield, R. J. & Minchin, F. R. (1976). An integrated strategy for day length and temperature sensitivity screening of potentially tropic-adapted soyabeans. In Expanding the use of Soybeans (ed. Goodman, R. M.), pp. 186–91. Illinois.Google Scholar
Summerfield, R. J., Huxley, P. A. & Minchin, F. R. (1977 a). Plant husbandry and management techniques for growing grain legumes under simulated tropical conditions in controlled environments. Experimental Agriculture 13, 8192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Summerfield, R. J., Dart, P. J., Huxley, P. A., Eaglesham, A. R. J., Minchin, F. R. & Day, J. M. (1977 b). Nitrogen nutrition of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). 1. Effects of applied nitrogen and symbiotic nitrogen fixation on growth and seed yield. Experimental Agriculture 13, 129–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar