Influence of Soil Moisture Stress on the Nitrogen Nutrition and Grain Productivity of Mungbean

Abstract

The soil pot cultures were carried out to investigate the relationship between plant growth of some leguminous crops and different soil moisture regimes with special reference in mungbean, and further, investigate the effect of wilting at different growth stages of mungbean on its nitrogen nutrition and grain productivity. The results obtained were summarized as follows: 1) The grain yield, plant dry matter and total nitrogen of leguminous crops decreased with the restriction of water supply but the rates of decrease in mungbean were lower than that of other legumes such as soybean and peanut. 2) The efficiencies of grain and grain protein production of mungbean were almost unaffected by soil moisture levels while those of peanut were markedly decreased according to the decrease of soil moisture content. 3) On the other hand, mungbean plants with severe wilting at all growth stages decreased its grain yield, plant dry matter, total nitrogen, nitrogen fixing capacity and also production efficiencies. It is observed that the inhibitory effect was obviously high in the plants treated at flowering and podding stages. 4) The low grain yields obtained were mainly caused by the decrease of pod number per plant and secondly due to the decrease of grain weight per pod. 5) It was clarified from this investigation that the irrigation management for the cultivation of mungbean, particularly at early growth stages should be paid much attention in expectation to maintain the high grain yield and production efficiencies of mungbean. © 1985, CROP SCIENCE SOCIETY OF JAPAN. All rights reserved.