The Effect of Wet or Dry Soil Conditions at Different Growth Stages on the Components of Yield of a Pea Crop

An experiment is described in which the effect of irrigation, at four different growth stages, on the growth and yield of peas, variety Dark-Skinned Perfection, was determined. The sandy loam soil was brought to field capacity immediately after sowing the seed and subsequently ten different combinations of wet or dry soil conditions were imposed on the plants. No increase in yield of peas resulted from irrigating before flowering but irrigating at the start of flowering increased the yield per plant by increasing the number of marketable pods and the number of peas per pod. Irrigating at petal-fall had no effect on yield but yields were appreciably increased by irrigating when the pods were swelling. This increase followed from an increase in the number of pods per plant and in the mean weight per pea. A combination of irrigation at the start of flowering and at pod-swelling gave the highest yield per plant.