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Crop and Pasture Science Crop and Pasture Science Society
Plant sciences, sustainable farming systems and food quality
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Review of quantitative sensitivity of faba bean physiology to temperature and soil-water deficit

Thomas R. Sinclair https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4481-7197 A * , Helene Marrou B , Michel Edmond Ghanem B C , Mohamed Kharrat D and Moez Amri E
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Crop and Soil Sciences Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.

B UMR AGAP Institut, Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, F-34398 Montpellier, France.

C CIRAD, UMR AGAP Institut, F-34398 Montpellier, France.

D University of Carthage, Field Crops Laboratory, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique de Tunisie (INRAT), Mensah 1, Tunisia.

E AgroBioSciences (AGBS), African Integrated Plant and Soil Research Group (AIPlasS), Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Ben Guerir, Morocco.

* Correspondence to: trsincla@ncsu.edu

Handling Editor: Marta Santalla

Crop & Pasture Science 74(4) 344-352 https://doi.org/10.1071/CP22316
Submitted: 5 July 2022  Accepted: 28 October 2022   Published: 24 November 2022

© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is an important component of cropping systems in cool, arid environments. However, no review has specifically focused on the quantitative sensitivity of physiological processes in faba bean to low temperature and water deficits. The objective of this review was to examine published functional relationships between physiological activity and these environmental variables. Among faba bean genotypes, temperature generally resulted in a consistent linear response in plant ontogeny and leaf area development. By contrast, nitrogen fixation exhibited a sharp threshold response to temperature such that at temperatures below ~13.5–15°C faba bean had virtually no nitrogen fixation activity. This inability to fix nitrogen under cool temperatures is likely to be a major weakness for faba bean in cool-season production systems. Water deficit also had a large impact on the physiology of faba bean. Ontogeny was generally shortened when plants were subjected to drought, resulting in major yield decreases. Genotypic differences within faba bean have been identified for initiation of partial stomata closure at high soil-water content, resulting in possible soil-water conservation in the field. Also, differences among genotypes have been identified in the sensitivity of nitrogen fixation activity to water deficits. Finally, collectively the reviewed functional relationships have been applied to simulation analysis of the geospatial impact of irrigation regimes and of sowing date for faba bean production. These geospatial studies offered insights on options to improve faba bean management.

Keywords: faba bean, irrigation management, leaf area, nitrogen fixation, ontogeny, simulation analysis, sowing date, temperature, transpiration, water deficit.


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