Abstract
Frost is one of the main climatic stresses which has to be overcome by a winter pea crop. Some forage lines show a delayed floral initiation, which helps them to escape the main winter freezing periods, as a higher susceptibility to frost is observed after floral initiation commences. Frost tolerant forage peas have been used in all winter pea breeding programs in France and our main purpose was to evaluate to what extent those lines and the current winter varieties are variable for the date of floral initiation in field conditions. A field experiment was carried out during two years at the INRA experimental station of Mons (northern France). Different genotypes (9 in 1995–1996 and 12 in 1996–1997) were sown at approximately monthly intervals between September and June to provide a range of photothermal conditions. The date of floral initiation was determined by destructive sampling. We observed variability for the date of floral initiation among the different genotypes and sowing dates. Our data particularly highlighted the different reactions to photoperiod. Three varieties had no detectable reaction. Six varieties exhibited a quantitative response, with varied intensities. Lastly, the three forage varieties showed a qualitative, high response to photoperiod, which indicated the presence of the Hr allele, already described in Pisum.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Eteve, G. & M. Derieux, 1982. Variabilité de la durée de la phase végétative chez le Pois (Pisum sativum L.). Application à la sélection de types résistants à l'hiver et à la détermination de la date de semis. Agronomie 2: 813–817.
Masle, J., G. Doussinault & B. Sun, 1989. Response of wheat genotypes to temperature and photoperiod in natural conditions. Crop Sci 29: 715–721.
Murfet, I.C., 1971. Flowering in Pisum. Three distinct phenotypic classes determined by the interaction of a dominant early and a dominant late gene. Heredity 26: 243–257.
Murfet, I.C., 1973. Flowering in Pisum. Hr, a gene for high response to photoperiod. Heredity 31: 157–164.
Murfet, I.C., 1975. Flowering in Pisum. Multiple alleles at the lf locus. Heredity 35: 85–98.
Murfet, I.C., 1981. The likely flowering genotype for several cultivars and mutants. Pisum Newsletter 13: 40–41.
Murfet, I.C. & J.B. Reid, 1985. The control of flowering and internode length in Pisum. In P.D. Hebblethwaite, M.C. Heath & T.C.K. Dawkins (Eds.), The pea crop: a basis for improvement, pp. 67–80. Butterworths, London.
Murfet, I.C. & J.B. Reid, 1993. Developmental mutants. In R. Casey & D.R. Davies (Eds.), Peas: genetics, molecular biology and biotechnology, pp. 165–216. CAB International, Wallingford.
Ney, B. & O. Turc, 1993. Heat-unit-based description of the reproductive development of pea. Crop Sci 33: 510–514.
Paton, D.M., 1968. Photoperiodic and temperature control of flower initiation in the late pea cultivar Greenfeast. Aust. J. Biol. Sci. 21: 609–617.
Reid, J.B. & I.C. Murfet, 1977. Flowering in Pisum. The effect of genotype, plant age, photoperiod and number of inductive cycles. Journal of Experimental Botany 28: 811–819.
Steponkus, P.L., 1978. Cold hardiness and freezing injury of agronomic crops. Adv. Agron. 30: 51–98.
Summerfield, R.J. & E.H. Roberts, 1988. Photothermal regulation of flowering in pea, lentil, faba bean and chickpea. In R.J. Summerfield (Ed.), World crops: cool season food legumes, pp. 911–922. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.
Wallace, D.H. & W. Yan, 1998. Prediction of phenology by the genotype × photoperiod × temperature interaction model. In D.H. Wallace & W. Yan (Eds.), Plant breeding and wholesystem crop physiology. Improving adaptation, maturity and yield, pp. 78–98. CAB International, Wallingford.
Wery, J., O. Turc, & J. Lecoeur, 1993. Mechanisms of resistance to cold, heat and drought in cool season legumes, with special reference to chickpea and pea. In K.B. Singh & M.C. Saxena (Eds.), Breeding for stress tolerance in cool season food legumes, pp. 271–291. John Wiley & sons, Chichester.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lejeune-Hénaut, I., Bourion, V., Etévé, G. et al. Floral initiation in field-grown forage peas is delayed to a greater extent by short photoperiods, than in other types of European varieties. Euphytica 109, 201–211 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003727324475
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003727324475