Effect of Accumulated Heat Units on Sowing Window of Mucuna
pruriens (L.) DC.
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Author:Ga.Dheebakaran, R.Jagannathan and N.K.Sathyamoorthy
p-ISSN:0024-9602, e-ISSN:2582-5321, Vol:95, Issue:jul-dec
DOI:
Abstract
Mucuna pruriens an ayurvedic medicinal plant was studied for time of sowing
at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India from August 2003 to July
2004. The treatments were ten different month of sowing from August ’03 to July
’04. Days required for germination, flower initiation, 50 percent flowering and final
harvest were recorded. Heat units such as Growing Degree Days (GDD), Photo Thermal
Units (PTU), Helio Thermal Units (HTU), Relative Temperature Disparity (RTD), Relative
Humidity Disparity (RHD) and Seasonal efficiency were worked out for different sowing
months. The results revealed that, there was positive relationships between heat units
like GDD/PTU/HTU at 50 percent flower initiation and DMP/yield/Harvest Index (HI),
whereas it was negative between RTD/RHD and yield. The mucuna which received
50 per cent of its total accumulated heat units before its 50 per cent flowering did
yield heavily (June to Aug). The mucuna which received higher accumulated heat units
during its earlier stages had attained the flower initiation and 50 percent flowering
stage earlier and the extended post flowering duration resulted in increased yield. It
could be concluded that, relatively higher seed yield can obtained from June sowing
and the mucuna require more accumulated heat units during its flowering phase for
higher yield.
Key words : Heat Units, GDD, mucuna, yield.