Forage and Grain Potential of Multiple Pigeonpea Varieties.

Pigeonpea is a drought-tolerant legume that grows quickly with minimal fertility requirements. This makes it a candidate plant for range seeding into existing pastures, especially in the southern United States where long growing seasons are more suitable to a tropical plant.  The objective of this research was to evaluate the growth characteristics of multiple pigeonpea varieties obtained from the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (IRCISAT) in India and two varieties developed at the University of Georgia.  Fourteen ICRISAT pigeonpea accessions were planted in a community garden at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Dallas along with the Georgia-1 and Georgia-2 varieties that were developed at the University of Georgia.  Additionally, Georgia-1 and Georgia-2 were direct seeded into existing grass pastures.  Plants were harvested in late November shortly before the first killing frost.  Data collection included percent flowering, seed yield, plant height and width, and total aboveground biomass.  Leaf tissue and grain were analyzed for total N and P content.  The sixteen pigeonpea accessions exhibited considerable differences in plant architecture and maturity.  Some varieties were suited for grain production whereas late maturing types may be more suited for range seeding and forage production.  Georgia-1 and Georgia-2 pigeonpea varieties planted in the community garden matured quickly and produced abundant pods, but when direct-seeded into an existing pasture, they matured more slowly and produced less aboveground biomass due to competition with grass for water and nutrients.  However, most growth of the range-seeded pigeonpea occurred from late August to November when the warm season grasses were becoming dormant.