Assessment on the impact of climatic factors on pod filling of grass pea

Abstract

Study was conducted to investigate the impact of climatic factors on pod filling of grass pea. Pod filling percentage (PFP) increased upto 96.7 % in crop sown on 30th November, beyond which it decreased gradually with further delay in sowing. Maximum and minimum temperatures, morning and afternoon soil temperatures, recorded at 5, 15 and 30 cm soil depths, morning and afternoon vapour pressure deficits at pre-flowering phase exhibited negative association, and contrarily, when prevailing during reproductive and pod development phases, these parameters demonstrated positive correlation with PFP. Temperature range, occurring during reproductive phase, which increased with delay in sowing dates, had exhibited significant positive correlation with PFP. Stepwise regression analysis revealed that APTU prevailing at maturity phase alone accounted for 67.4% of the total variation in PFP and together with temperature range it explained 91.3% variation. APTU, temperature range, afternoon vapour pressure deficit, and afternoon soil temperature seem to be the critical agroclimatic variables influencing the pod filling percentage significantly.