Abstract
Short-season grain legumes play an important role in smallholder farming systems as source of food and to improve soil fertility through nitrogen fixation. However, it is not clearly understood how these diverse legumes contribute to the resilience of such systems in semi-arid environments. We describe the growth, development and resource-use efficiency (focusing on radiation, RUE) of three promising short-season grain legumes: common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) and lablab (Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet). Two field experiments were conducted during the short rains of 2012–13 and 2013–14 in Eastern Kenya. In the first experiment, the legumes were grown at three plant densities (low, medium, high); in the second experiment, they were subjected to three water regimes (rainfed, partly irrigated, fully irrigated). Phenological development was monitored and biomass accumulation, leaf area index and fractional radiation interception were measured repeatedly during growth; grain yield was measured at maturity. Harvest index and RUE were calculated from these data. Common bean had the shortest growing period (70 days), the most compact growth habit and relatively high RUE but limited grain yield (1000–1900 kg ha–1), thereby proving more suitable for cultivation in areas with restricted cropping windows or in intercropping systems. Cowpea had a longer growing period (90 days) and a spreading growth habit leading to high light interception and outstanding grain yields under optimal conditions (1400–3050 kg ha–1). Lablab showed stable RUE values (0.76–0.92 g MJ–1), was relatively unaffected by limited water availability and had a comparatively long growing period (100 days). Lablab grain yields of ~1200–2350 kg ha–1 were obtained across all water regimes, indicating a high potential to cushion climatic variability. Planting density strongly influenced the production success of cowpea and lablab, with high plant densities leading to vigorous growth habit with low podset establishment. Such information on temporal and spatial differences in growth, development and resource-use efficiency is highly valuable for crop-modelling applications and for designing more resilient farming systems with short-season grain legumes.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record, shown for indexing and research. Copyright remains with the authors or the publisher. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 13
Claim · model-written summary
Common bean had a 70 day growing period and compact habit.
- Taxon
- Common bean
Phaseolus vulgarise0 - Outcome
- growing periode0
- Direction
- shorteste0
- Value
- 70 dayse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Common bean had the shortest growing period (70 days), the most compact growth habit”
Claim · model-written summary
Common bean had relatively high RUE.
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“relatively high RUE but limited grain yield (1000–1900 kg ha–1)”
Claim · model-written summary
Common bean had limited grain yield of 1000–1900 kg ha–1.
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“limited grain yield (1000–1900 kg ha–1)”
Claim · model-written summary
Common bean was judged suitable for restricted cropping windows and intercropping.
- Outcome
- more suitable for cultivation in areas with restricted cropping windows or in intercropping systemse0
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“more suitable for cultivation in areas with restricted cropping windows or in intercropping systems”
Claim · model-written summary
Cowpea had a 90 day growing period and spreading habit.
- Taxon
- Cowpea
Vigna unguiculatae0 - Outcome
- growing periode0
- Direction
- longere0
- Value
- 90 dayse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Cowpea had a longer growing period (90 days) and a spreading growth habit”
Claim · model-written summary
Cowpea had high light interception.
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“a spreading growth habit leading to high light interception”
Claim · model-written summary
Cowpea yielded 1400–3050 kg ha–1 under optimal conditions.
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“outstanding grain yields under optimal conditions (1400–3050 kg ha–1)”
Claim · model-written summary
Lablab RUE was stable at 0.76–0.92 g MJ–1.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Lablab showed stable RUE values (0.76–0.92 g MJ–1)”
Claim · model-written summary
Lablab was relatively unaffected by limited water.
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“was relatively unaffected by limited water availability”
Claim · model-written summary
Lablab had a 100 day growing period.
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“a comparatively long growing period (100 days)”
Claim · model-written summary
Lablab yielded about 1200–2350 kg ha–1 across water regimes.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Lablab grain yields of ~1200–2350 kg ha–1 were obtained across all water regimes”
Claim · model-written summary
High density led to vigorous growth in cowpea and lablab.
- Taxon
- cowpea and lablabVigna unguiculata
Lablabe0 - Treatment
- high plant densitiese0
- Outcome
- vigorous growth habite0
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Planting density strongly influenced the production success of cowpea and lablab, with high plant densities leading to vigorous growth habit with low podset establishment.”
Claim · model-written summary
High density led to low pod set in cowpea and lablab.
- Taxon
- cowpea and lablabVigna unguiculataLablabe0
- Treatment
- high plant densitiese0
- Outcome
- podset establishmente0
- Direction
- lowe0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Planting density strongly influenced the production success of cowpea and lablab, with high plant densities leading to vigorous growth habit with low podset establishment.”
The same questions in other papers
density · growth · Vigna unguiculata (cowpea)Positive and negative results
14 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
11 papers more in this group
See all 15 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.