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Bloom and Pod Set in Determinate and Indeterminate Soybeans Grown in China 1
Author(s) -
Gai Junyi,
Palmer R. G.,
Fehr W. R.
Publication year - 1984
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/agronj1984.00021962007600060026x
Subject(s) - raceme , point of delivery , indeterminate , main stem , indeterminate growth , horticulture , mathematics , biology , agronomy , cultivar , inflorescence , ideotype , pure mathematics
Precise description of soybean [ Glycine max (L.) Merr.] blooming and pod set characteristics are necessary for proper utilization of these characteristics in crop improvement. Seven determinate and five indeterminate soybean land cultivars from the lower Yangtze and Hwai Valleys (31° to 35°N 115° to 122°E) were examined in Nanjing, China (32°N 118°48'E) to describe the blooming habit and estimate the percentages of bloom and pod set. The plants had main raceme and subraceme (including subbranch) subdivisions on the floral nodes at the top, and primary branch and secondary branch subdivisions on the branch nodes at the bottom. In both determinate and indeterminate cultivars, the most important sectors in producing flowers and pods were the main raceme and the primary branch subdivisions. With a similar maturity, the determinate type had fewer main racemes, more subracemes, more primary and secondary branches, and more flowers per main raceme at a corresponding node than did the indeterminate type. The peak blooming period of a plant was from the 4th to the 14th day after first flowering. For the two stem‐termination types, on each subdivision, the flowering order was basically from the lower flowers to the upper ones, with the subraceme beginning to flower about the time that the main raceme at the same node finished blooming. For both stem‐termination types, the percentage of pod set was negatively correlated with maturity date and number of flowers. The percentage of pod set was relatively high on the terminal raceme for the determinate type. Percentage pod set of subracemes tended to decrease from the lower nodes to the upper ones for both types, but, at corresponding nodes, the percentage pod set of the determinate type was higher than that of the indeterminate type.