THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE AND DROUGHT STRESS ON RADIATION USE EFFICIENCY OF BAMBARA GROUNDNUT (VIGNA SUBTERRANEAN (L.) VERDC.) LANDRACES

Experiments were conducted at the University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, UK, to investigate the effect of drought and high temperature stress on the growth and development of Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranean (L.) Verdc.). In the first glasshouse experiment (2007), two landraces were grown, ‘S19-3’ (from hot, dry environment/Namibia) and ‘Uniswa Red’ (from cool, wet environment/Swaziland) under two different temperatures, 33±5 and 23±5°C. Drought was imposed at pod filling stage (77 DAS). In the second experiment (2008), the same two landraces were grown under the same temperatures, but the drought was imposed at flowering (30 DAS). The landraces under both temperature regimes intercepted less radiation in 2008, and ‘Uniswa Red’ at 33°C had the highest intercepted radiation in both years.
The light extinction coefficient was not affected either by temperature or drought: 0.59 in 2007 and 0.57 in 2008. In both growing seasons, fractional intercepted radiation was higher at 33°C. The conversion coefficient for intercepted radiation (ε_s, g MJ^-1) of ‘S19-3’ was significantly higher at 33°C in both growing seasons.
The highest value (1.31) was obtained from ‘S19-3’ at 33°C in 2007, and the lowest (0.24) was obtained from ‘S19-3’ at 23°C in 2008.

II International Symposium on Underutilized Plant Species: Crops for the Future – Beyond Food Security

I. Al-Shareef, D. Sparkes, A.S. Karunaratne, S. Azam-Ali

intercepted radiation, landrace, RUE (Radiation Use efficiency)

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2013.979.75