206 



STUDIES IN THE POLLINATION ON INDIAN CROPS 



Improvement. Yield is of far greater importance than quality in the 

 pigeon pea. Moreover, fertilization is dependent on the weather. To ensure 

 the crop therefore a fairly wide range of forms as regards time cf flowering is 

 almost certain to give better results than a pure culture. Some experiments 

 have been made on this point at Pusa. In 1911-12, one of the most promising 

 of the pure lines, characterized by pure white seed and a pale yellow standard, 

 was compared with the local mixed crop wth the following results : — 



Variety 



Pure line 

 Local crop 



This result was not due to poor vegetative growth or lack of flowering on the 

 part of the pure line but entirely to the better setting of the local crop, the 

 flowering period of which was much greater than that of the pure culture. In 

 the selection, out of a total of 4,838 plants, 578 plants split as regards flower 

 colour. These two sets were threshed separately and the total weight of seed 

 was determined. The results are given in the following table : — 



The heterozygotes gave nearly three times the yield of the homozygotes. 

 The next year, a comparison was made between the product of these hetero- 

 zygotes and the local crop. The results were as follows : — ■ 



