Genotype, Row Spacing and Environment Interaction for Productivity and Grain Quality of Pigeonpea (Cajanus Cajan) in Sub-Tropical Australia

Abstract

The pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) is grown between the 45oN and 45oS as a summer food legume, and consumed by billions of people in the world. Recent renewed interest from Australian growers prompted the current study to evaluate high-yielding varieties and develop agronomic parameters for this crop. Performance of four selected pigeonpea genotypes were assessed under three row spacing (25, 50 and 100 cm) treatments and at one plant density (30 plants/m2) in two diverse Australian environments (Kingaroy and Gatton) in Queensland. Decreasing row spacing from 100cm to 25cm led to a linear increase in mean shoot dry matter (DM) at both sites. However, maximum grain yields of up to 2.9 t/ha were achieved at 50cm row spacing but the yields declined at 25cm spacing at both sites. Genotypic variation for radiation use efficiency (RUE) measured at Gatton site ranged from 1.40 to 1.76 g/MJ, which accounted for 76% of variation in DM. There was a significant effect of site and genotype on grain N and 100-seed mass. The study demonstrated that pigeonpea could be grown as a legume break crop in subtropical Australia, with potential export market opportunities.