Optimizing Seeding Ratio for Semi-Leafless and Leafed Pea Mixture with Precise UAV Quantification of Crop Lodging

Abstract

The field pea has both semi-leafless (SL) and leafed (L) types. Mixing these two types together might improve yield by optimizing pea solar radiation interception, reducing lodging, and decreasing disease. However, an optimum mixing ratio has not yet been established, since previous studies mixed two leaf types from two separate varieties. This study used four near-isogenic pairs of pea genotypes differing only in leaf type to determine the optimal mixing ratio for yield and agronomic traits. Two leaf types were mixed at seeding in five mixing ratios: 0:100, 50:50, 67:33, 83:17, and 100:0 SL/L. With precise UAV quantification of canopy height (r2 = 0.88, RMSE = 2.6 cm), the results showed that a ratio of over 67% semi-leafless pea had a 10% greater lodging resistance when compared to the leafed monoculture. For mycosphaerella blight and Uromyce viciae-fabae rust diseases, the 83:17 mixture decreased disease severity by 4% when compared with the leafed monoculture. Regression analysis of yield estimated that the 86:14 ratio provided an 11% increase to the leafed monoculture, but there was no increase compared with the semi-leafless monoculture. Mixing the two types in a high semi-leafless ratio can reduce leafed lodging and prevent yield loss but does not increase the overall yield over the semi-leafless monoculture.