Yield and Yield Components of White Lupine Under Different Ecological Conditions

Abstract

White lupine (Lupinus albus L.), with its favorable agrotechnical specifications, is a very important legume. Its water demand is relatively low, yet fluctuations in water amount and/or distribution during its life cycle might influence its performance. An experiment was carried out at 3 locations in Hungary; “Debrecen”, “Jobbágyi” and “Nyalka” in 2020 to investigate certain yield components performance; namely pod number plant-1, seed number plant-1, seed weight plant-1 and 1000-seed weight, as well as the final seed yield of white lupine (cv. Nelly). In addition, the average seed size (calculated as a percentage from the final seed yield) was also calculated. Soil was slightly alkaline in “Nyalka”, whereas it was acidic in the other 2 locations. Precipitation was higher in “Debrecen” from April to July. Results showed that “Debrecen” location had significantly higher pod number plant-1, seed number plant-1 and seed weight plant-1, leading to significantly higher seed yield compared to “Jobbágyi” and “Nyalka” locations. Seed yield was strongly-positively correlated with most of the seed component traits. In addition, “Debrecen” location had the highest average of bigger seeds (over 9 mm) and the lowest average of smaller seeds (between 3.5 – 9 mm). It could be concluded that white lupine performance in the study areas is highly associated with both the precipitation amount and distribution throughout the plant’s vegetative period, as well as with the soil pH. More thorough studies concerning potential enhancements in white lupine’s growth and yield with the availability of specific nourishers might be an additional database enrichment, especially with the lack of such data in the studied areas