Growth and Performance of Guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.) Genotypes under Various Irrigation Regimes with and without Biogenic Silica Amendment in Arid Southwest US

Abstract

Guar is a potential crop that can be grown as a forage or as a seed crop in arid to semi-arid regions due to its low water requirements and tolerance to heat. Optimizing irrigation water use is important for making alternative crops such as guar a sustainable option. Amendments such as biogenic silica, a sedimentary rock from a biogenic source such as fossils, may help plants tolerate water stress due to reduced irrigation. The objective of the current study was to evaluate seed yield and attribute components and agronomic and physiological parameters for four guar genotypes (Matador, Kinman, Lewis, and NMSU 15-G1) under five drip irrigation regimes (I1-normal irrigation, I2-no irrigation at 75% pod formation, I3-no irrigation at 50% and 75% pod formation, I4-terminate irrigation at flowering, and I5-terminate irrigation at flowering + biogenic silica amendment) at Las Cruces in southern New Mexico, USA, from 2016 to 2018. On average, the I1 irrigation regime produced the highest guar seed yield (2715 kg ha−1) followed by I5 (2469 kg ha−1) from 2016 to 2018. As compared to the I1 regime, the I2 and I3 regimes resulted in a 20.8% and 23.4% decline in guar seed yield, respectively, on average from 2016 to 2018. The results suggest that the addition of biogenic silica might help to improve guar seed yield under reduced irrigation conditions and can produce comparable yields with an average of 300 mm of irrigation during the growing season in the southern New Mexico region of the Southwest US.

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“…In addition, A. Garcia et al (2023) report that guar can also be implemented in regions with low precipitation (under 400 mm). According to R. Vozhegova et al (2022b), the weather conditions in the southern zone of Ukraine are similar to those where guar is grown: on average, 300-350 mm of precipitation falls per year, with fluctuations over the years from 250 to 650 mm, and the sum of effective temperatures above 10°C is 3,200-3,400°C.…”

Modeling Plant Height and Biomass Production of Cluster Bean and Sesbania across Diverse Irrigation Qualities in Pakistan’s Thar Desert

“…The relationship between PH and water quality can be figured out by using Equations ( 10)- (12) for both these crops. PH = RPH × 4.32 − 0.35EC (15) PH = RPH × 8.87 − 0.77EC (16) Equation (15) for Cluster bean and Equation ( 16) for Sesbania can be used to describe the relationship between RPH, EC and PH. These finding equations are similar to the finding equations for the leaf area index [24,25,36].…”

“…Cluster bean and Sesbania are both grown as green manuring crops in different parts of the world because these crops help to enhance soil fertility [13,14]. In arid and semi-arid regions, both of these crops are used as cattle feed because both of these crops contain high amounts of protein and minerals [11,15]. The growth of these crops intended for cattle feed production predominantly relies on the height of the plant and the production of biomass per individual plant [16].…”

Evaluation of collection specimens of guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.) by economically valuable traits

“…In addition, A. Garcia et al (2023) report that guar can also be implemented in regions with low precipitation (under 400 mm). According to R. Vozhegova et al.…”