Publications

Growth, development and yield of three-grain legumes (mung bean [F1], soybean [F2] and grass pea [F3]) following rice crop to enhance grain production was studied in a paddy field in the northern Timor-Leste. A split plot design was used with three water treatments (well-watered [W0], water withheld at flowering [W1] and after germination [W2]). Interaction between water treatments and species on dry matter production (p < 0.001) and seed yield (p = 0.005) was observed. In control, the highest seed yield was F1 (1.2 t/ha) followed by F2 (1.1 t/ha) and F3 (0.4 t/ha) respectively. There was a steady reduction in seed yield in F1 from W0 to W2, but almost fifty percent reduction in F2 under W1 and W2 compared to W0. F3 had little difference between water treatments. The W1 and W2 reduced number of filled pods per plant in all species compared to control (W0). Between the species, F3 had the highest filled pods per plant followed by F2 and F3. The W1 and W2 reduced seeds per pod of F1; however, it did not effect F2 and F3. There were interactions between water treatment and species on 100 seeds weight. The heaviest seeds were in F2 in the control plants, but in the F2 drought treatments (W1 and W2) seed weight were less than F3. The lowest seed weight was in F1, but there was no impact of the terminal droughts on its seed weight.

Groundwater irrigation (GWI) decreases soil temperature and increases crop growth duration and water consumption. Optimizing sowing dates offers a cost-effective solution to mitigate these effects. This study evaluated five sowing date treatments for spring maize: GWI on April 20 (GW420), April 25 (GW425), April 30 (GW430), May 5 (GW505), and May 10 (GW510), with surface water irrigation (SWI) on April 20 (SW420) as the control. The evaluated parameters included soil temperature at 5 cm depth (T 5 ), soil-temperature-calculated growing degree days (GDD s ), actual crop evapotranspiration (ET c-act ), leaf area index (LAI), grain filling, grain yield, and crop water productivity (WP c ). GW420 decreased daily maximum T 5 by 1.8°C (P<0.05) and daily average GDD s accumulation by 5.9 % and increased the growth duration by 7.8 d and ET c-act by 33.2 mm compared to SW420. GW420 also delayed LAI growth and decreased the weight of maximum grain filling rate (W max ) and maximum grain filling rate (G max ), reducing mean LAI (LAI ave ) by 8.7 %, grain yield by 6.7 %, and WP c by 10.2 % (P<0.05). Late sowing compensated for GDD s loss in the GWI treatments, with the highest daily average GDD s accumulation observed in GW505 and GW510 (21.3°C d –1 ), followed by SW420 and GW430 (20.2–20.3°C d –1 ), and the lowest in GW420 and GW425 (19.1–19.4°C d –1 ). Late sowing also shortened growth duration and decreased ET c-act , with GW510 showing a 13.9 d shorter growth duration and GW425, GW430, GW505, and GW510 exhibiting 30.6, 36.0, 57.6, and 70.2 mm lower ET c-act , respectively, than GW420. Moderately late sowing (GW430) enhanced G max and maintained the active grain filling period (T agp ). Late sowing increased WP c by 7.9 %, 16.8 %, 17.4 %, and 17.2 % in GW425, GW430, GW505, and GW510 (P<0.05), respectively, compared to GW420. While the grain yields of GW430 and SW420 did not significantly differ, GW430 had a higher WP c than SW420, indicating that moderately late sowing fully compensated for the decline in grain yield and WP c of groundwater-irrigated maize. Entropy-TOPSIS analysis revealed that GW430 is the optimal sowing date for groundwater-irrigated maize in arid regions of northwest China, offering a cost-effective method to mitigate GWI-induced GDD s loss and enhance WP c . • Groundwater irrigation (GWI) decreased daily maximum soil temperatures at 5 cm depth. • GWI induced losses in soil-temperature-calculated growing degree-days (GDDs). • GWI extended the growth duration and decreased water use efficiency (WUE) in spring maize. • Moderately late sowing compensated for the decline in WUE of groundwater-irrigated maize.

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a very important leguminous perennial fodder crop in the Sultanate of Oman, the neighboring gulf, and other countries where it is regarded as part of farm life. The paper presents the salient results of series of alfalfa germplasm collection missions across all the governorates of Oman. It also includes the pattern of variations in seed characters existing in as many as 67 alfalfa accessions, collected. Of these, the highest number of accessions were from Eastern / Al-Sharqiyah governorates (25) followed by 20 from Interior/ Al-Dakhliyah governorate, 8 each from North Batinah and Dhahira &amp; Buraimi governorates, 6 from South Batinah governorate and none from Dhofar governorate in the south part of Oman. The seed accessions showed wide variations in respect to all seed characters studied, i.e. seed length (cm) and width (cm), 1000-seed weight (g) and seed nature &amp; color. All the accessions were heterogeneous (mixture) having seeds of various colors, i.e. tan, greenish yellow, dark yellow, brown, dark brown. The diversity of alfalfa seed accessions with respect to seed characteristics and their genetic erosion have been discussed in relation to geographic diversity and socio-cultural factors.

The results showed that the fertilizer practices, on average, significantly improved yield by 31.72% and crude protein content by 11.29%, with FM emerging as the most effective, this is because mineral fertilizers provide available nutrients for lucerne, manure provides essential organic matter for microorganisms and improve soil properties. In addition, the fertilizer practices significantly reduced neutral and acid detergent fiber contents by 6.28% and 8.50%, respectively, while increasing ash content and relative feeding value. Furthermore, climatic variables, soil properties, and planting system factors such as sowing date and harvest frequency significantly affected yield and nutritional quality. The practical implications of our results emphasize the need for balanced and strategic fertilizer application to optimize lucerne production and highlight the potential to adjust cultivation practices according to environmental conditions. Balanced and strategic fertilizer application can simultaneously improve soil properties, enhance soil carbon sequestration, and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases from the soil, which is a vital measure for realizing sustainable agricultural development.

Thirty-four faba bean (Vicia faba L.) including local and exotic materials were subjected to molecular diversity assessment using 12 inter-simple sequence repeat primers. The molecular data showed unambiguous and qualitative (present or absent) fragments that gave repeatable patterns were considered for the analysis. The 12 selected primers produced a total of 71 fragments (loci), all of which were polymorphic using the 34 collected faba genotypes. The results of clustering Nei’s genetic distance using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic average algorithm at the 0.52 dissimilarity separated genotypes to six main clusters with many subclusters. The local genotypes were distributed to most of all clusters. Genotypes collected from Egypt and King Saud University was grouped together in two clusters, ICARDA’s genotypes in two clusters and two genotypes (H8, local determent genotype and 987–255–95 line) formed a single cluster. The high number of subclusters formed in this study indicated that there is a high genetic variability related to collection sites and it should be utilised in faba bean improvement.