Controlled Environments as an Adjunct to Field Research on Lentils (Lens culinaris). IV. Cultivar Responses to Above- and Below-average Temperatures during Vegetative Growth

Abstract

SUMMARYThe climates to which lentil (Lens culinaris) crops are exposed can vary appreciably depending on location and date of sowing. The effects on growth, development and seed yield when three USA cultivars experienced relatively warmer or cooler day/night temperatures during the vegetative period were investigated in growth cabinets. Plants were nodulated and supplied with either 20 or 80 ppm inorganic N; they differed appreciably in morphology and vegetative vigour, and so in their potential for subsequent pod production, depending on pre-flowering temperature and on nitrogen nutrition. Variations in seed yield were largely a consequence of treatment and cultivar effects on pod number per plant, and a pre-flowering temperature regime of 21°/7°C (mean 14.9°C) was supra-optimal. The pre-flowering environment clearly affects potential pod production and has persistent effects on the capability of plants to fill the pods produced.