Effect of root temperature on floral morphology in cowpea vigna unguiculata cultivar k 2809
Stewart, K.A.; Summerfield, R.J.
Plant and Soil 49(2): 443-449
1978
ISSN/ISBN: 0032-079X Accession: 005267356
When pot-grown cowpea plants experienced a large diurnal variation in root temperature (33.degree. C day-19.degree. C night) during reproductive growth, floral morphology was markedly affected. Petals were constricted in such a way as to restrict self-pollination hence seed yields were drastically reduced. These abnormal flowers were very similar to those mediating mechanical male sterility in cowpea, a genetically inherited, recessive, outcrossing mechanism identified in field populations.