Studies on seed-setting in leguminous plants. II. Vetches

Authors

• Rolf Manner Plant Breeding Institute Gullåker, Hammenhög, Sweden

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.71448

Abstract

The differences between different genetical materials as to the investigated characters have been large. The percentage of non-developed and fallen pods was on an average 21 and varied between 2 and 64. The mean percentage of non-developed and fallen pods was 5.5 and varied between 0 and 16 in the peas. The percentage of fully developed seeds was much smaller for the first ovule than for the central ones. The percentage of fully developed seeds was 70 in one material and the percentage of developed ovules (fully developed + defective seeds) in another material was 88.3. The corresponding percentages for the central seeds were 84 and 98.1, respectively, and for the last (outermost) seeds in the pods 82 and 91.1, respectively. The frequency of pods with only fully developed seeds was smaller for pods with a small number of seeds (ovules) per pod than for pods with a high number. The percentage of dead ovules was much higher for ovaries with a small number of ovules than for ovaries with a high number of ovules per ovary. The percentage of fully developed seeds showed a tendency to be higher for ovaries containing a large number of ovules than for ovaries containing a small number of ovules. Pod-setting percentage was much higher for the flowers with a low position (early) on the plant than for the flowers with a high position (late) on the stem. The difference was much larger than the corresponding one for the pea material. The length and breadth of the pods showed a tendency to be larger for low pods than for pods with a high position on the stem. Number of ovules per ovary showed a tendency to be higher for the lowest flowers than for the highest flowers. The difference was however much larger as to the fully developed seeds because the number of defective seeds was much higher for pods with a high position on the stem. Seed weight per pod was much larger for pods with a low position on the stem (early) than for pods with a high position on the stem (late). The mean seed weight showed about the same variation. Seed weight per pod for plants with a large number of pods per plant was smaller than for plants with a small number of pods per plant. The mean seed weight showed about the same variation. The number of fully developed seeds was somewhat larger for pods from nodes with two pods per node than for pods from nodes with only one pod per node. Seed weight per pod showed a tendency to be larger for pods from nodes with two pods per node than for pods from nodes with only one pod. Comparisons are in many cases made between vetches and peas, and, further, are the practical consequences of the obtained results discussed.