Patterns of plant growth during pre- and post-flowering phases in two cultivars of field peas (Pisum sativum var. arvensis)

Field peas (cvs. mahndorfer and vares) were grown under pot cultures and their growth patterns were compared during pre- and post-flowering growth phases. Mahndorfer possessed consistently higher mean leaf area and higher rates of crop growth. However, the differences in respect of RGR of the whole plant and/or its component plant parts (like stem, leaves, roots etc.) or of NAR as well as LAR were rather marginal. As regards accumulation of dry matter into different plant parts during pre-flowering period mahndorfer accumulated relatively higher amounts of dry matter in stems, while in vares it was higher in roots. Moreover, during the post-flowering phase, the dry matter distribution pattern was more or less similar in the two cultivars.