Agro-physiological studies on the yield performance of mungbean. II. Cultivaral differences in dry matter production, partitioning and yield components, and their relationships with earliness in flowering.

Abstract

The relationships among dry matter production and partitioning, yield components, earliness in flowering and seed yield in 24 cultivars of mungbean, Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek, were studied in field experiments in 1987 and 1988 to examine the agro-physiological basis of yield. Total dry matter (TDM) production and partitioning significantly differed among cultivars (cvs.), but cv. performance were similar across years. Early flowering cvs. produced less TDM and vegetative DM, but had higher seed-stem ratio, harvest index (HI) and yield than later flowering ones. Since stem DM was negatively correlated with seed-stem ratio and HI, reduced stem DM may increase yield. Seed yield was correlated with TDM only in cultivars with low TDM. Cvs. with high TDM were separated into 2 groups, one with higher HI and higher yield, and another with lower HI and lower yield. Seed yield was mainly determined by the number of pods/plant while the number of seeds/pod, 100 seed weight, and pod length tended to compensate fo reduced pod number. It was suggested that earlier flowering, higher TDM but lower percentage of stem DM, higher HI, and more and longer pods with more and bigger seeds, which were shown by the top-yielding cv. KUS in both years, characterize the mungbean "Ideo-type" for warm temperate environments.