Abstracts Biological Sciences

The effects of plant spacing and water on green peas

by J. A. D. Anderson

The processed pea industry has grown rapidly in New Zealand over the last few years and prospects for further growth look reasonably bright. In the past the main production area for processed peas has been Hawkes Bay. With the opening of a second processing factory in Christchurch and further expansion of one in Timaru in the 1970-71 season, Canterbury is becoming increasingly important in the production of processed peas, and is likely to become the dominant green pea producing area of New Zealand before long. Despite their increasing importance to New Zealand, very little agronomic research has been carried out on processed peas New Zealand. Although seasonal fluctuations in yield occur there appears to have been no consistent increase in green pea yields over the last few years. Average green pea yields are not high and more information is required on agronomic factors which may affect yield. The results of overseas work on the effect of plant density on green peas are variable and no reliable indication of the optimum plant density for Canterbury could be obtained from them. Good responses to irrigation have been measured overseas, and have also been obtained by some Canterbury farmers. However, most of the overseas work has been done in areas where the soil and climate differ from that in Canterbury and results are unable to be applied directly to Canterbury. This study was therefore initiated to obtain information on the response of green peas to different plant spacings and moisture levels under Canterbury conditions.