Premium
Yield and Agronomic Advantages of Pea Leaf Type Mixtures under Organic Management
Author(s) -
Syrovy Lena D.,
Banniza Sabine,
Shirtliffe Steven J.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj14.0218
Subject(s) - cultivar , agronomy , monoculture , sativum , biology , yield (engineering) , weed , field pea , canopy , field experiment , crop , weed control , biomass (ecology) , botany , materials science , metallurgy
Field pea ( Pisum sativum L.) is an important organic crop due to its contribution to soil fertility and other rotational benefits. Leafed (wild‐type) pea cultivars tend to be more weed suppressive, but their poor standing ability limits yield compared with semi‐leafless cultivars. Growing mixtures of leafed and semi‐leafless cultivars may improve weed suppression and yield compared with monocultures of the same cultivars by altering canopy morphology. To test this hypothesis, replicated field experiments were conducted under weedy, organic conditions in Saskatchewan, Canada, in 2011 and 2012. Mixtures of a leafed and semi‐leafless cultivar, CDC Sonata and CDC Dakota, were sown in ratios of 0:100, 25:75, 50:50, 75:25, and 100:0 leafed to semi‐leafless pea, at target seeding rates of 88 and 132 plants m −2 . Mixtures that included 50% or more semi‐leafless pea had similar lodging resistance and weed biomass suppression to the agronomically superior semi‐leafless cultivar grown alone. The strong competitive ability of the semi‐leafless cultivar was unexpected based on previous accounts. The combined yield of the two cultivars grown in a 75% semi‐leafless mixture exceeded the seed and biomass yield of either single cultivar by at least 18 and 12%, respectively. Yield enhancement was attributed to the leafed cultivar, whose seed yield increased by more than two and a half times in this mixture relative to its monoculture. Results suggest that breeding of leafed cultivars specifically for mixture with semi‐leafless pea may be a future source of yield gains in organic and low‐input systems.