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The pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) is an erect legume used for various purposes, such as improving plant and soil reclamation. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the development of pigeon pea cv. IAPAR 43 Arata subjected to different soil water availabilities. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse in a completely randomized design with six soil water availabilities (20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 % of the maximum capacity of water retention in the soil) and six replications. Soil moisture at field capacity was 0.24 cm3 cm-3. Plastic pots were used with 5.0 dm3 of capacity and each contained three plants. Soil moisture was maintained gravimetrically. The parameters analyzed were soil pH, SPAD reading, number of leaves and dry weight of leaves, stems and roots. The results were submitted to analysis of variance with regression testing considering 5.0 % of probability and all were fitted to quadratic regression model. The higher results for soil pH and SPAD readings were observed in 80 and 31.78 % water availability, respectively. The results that offered the highest number of leaves and dry weight of leaves, stems and root were between 51.82 and 59.02 % of the maximum soil water retention capacity. The pigeon pea cv. IAPAR 43 Arata is sensitive to drought and also to saturated soil conditions, where the best water availability for this crop is in the range from 51.82 to 59.02 %.

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