Crop Physiology :
The Effects of Flower Removal on the Seed Yield of Pigeonpeas
Annals of Applied Biology (1979), 91, 383-390
ABSTRACT:
In field experiments carried out at Hyderabad,
India with early and medium-duration cultivars of Cajanus cajan sown
at the normal time, in July, removal of all flowers and young pods
for up to 5 wk had little or no effect on final yield. The flowering
period of the deflowered plants was extended and their senescence
delayed. The plants compensated for the loss of earlier-formed
flowers by setting pods from later-formed flowers; there was
relatively little effect of the deflowering treatments on the number
of seeds per pod or weight per seed. The plants were also able to
compensate for the repeated removal of all flowers and young pods
from alternate nodes by setting more pods at the other nodes.
The removal of flowers from pigeonpeas grown as
a winter crop resulted in yield reductions roughly proportional to
the length of the deflowering period, probably because maturation of
these plants was delayed and occurred under increasingly
unfavourable conditions as the weather became hotter.