Development of new peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) cultivars over the past 40 years has more than doubled yield potential. The purpose of this paper is to identify and evaluate the physiological changes made in the course of this varietal improvement that are responsible for the great increase in yield potential. Weekly harvests of large samples of four Florida cultivars, a Spanish peanut type, and one soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) cultlvar gave the information needed to show the progressive changes in dry weights of all plant parts throughout the growing season. Other weekly samplings and observations gave numbers of pegs, flowers, and fruits as well as fruit weights, root length, shoot length, and leaf areas. Quantitative estimates of the physiologlcal factors responsible for the dry weight differences were made by computer simulation using the PENUTZ model. Differences in three physiological processes explain most of the yield variation among the five peanut cultivars; the partitioning of assimilate between vegetative and reproductive parts, the length of the filling period, and the rate of fruit establishment. Of these, the partitioning of assimilate had the greatest effect on fruit yield. Estimates of partitioning to fruit ranged from 41% in the first cultivar released to 98% in the most recently released cultivar. Crop growth rates did not differ significantly among peanut cultivars but all were much higher than the crop growth rate of soybeans.

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Rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. IR-72) and soybean (Glycine max L. Merr. cv. Bragg), which have been reported to differ in acclimation to elevated CO2, were grown for a season in snnlight at ambient and twice-ambient [CO2], and under daytime temperature regimes ranging from 28 to 40 °C. The objectives of the study were to test whether CO2 enrichment could compensate for adverse effects of high growth temperatures on photosynthesis, and whether these two C3 species differed in this regard. Leaf photosynthetic assimilation rates (A) of both species, when measured at the growth [CO2], were increased by CO2 enrichment, but decreased by supraoptimal temperatures. However, CO2 enrichment more than compensated for the temperatureinduced decline in A. For soybean, this CO2 enhancement of A increased in a linear manner by 32-95% with increasing growth temperatures from 28 to 40 °C, whereas with rice the degree of enhancement was relatively constant at about 60%, from 32 to 38 °C. Both elevated CO2 and temperature exerted coarse control on the Rubisco protein content, but the two species differed in the degree of responsiveness. CO2 enrichment and high growth temperatures reduced the Rubisco content of rice by 22 and 23%, respectively, but only by 8 and 17% for soybean. The maximum degree of Rubisco down-regulation appeared to be limited, as in rice the substantial individual effects of these two variables, when combined, were less than additive. Fine control of Rubisco activation was also influenced by both elevated [CO2] and temperature. In rice, total activity and activation were reduced, but in soybean only activation was lowered. The apparent catalytic turnover rate (Xcat) of rice Rubisco was unaffected by these variables, but in soybean elevated [CO2] and temperature increased the apparent ^^at by 8 and 22%, respectively. Post-sunset declines in Rubisco activities were accelerated by elevated [CO2] in rice, but by high temperature in soybean, suggesting that [CO2] and growth temperature influenced the metabolism of 2-carboxyarabinitol-l-phosphate, and that the effects might be species-specific. The greater capacity of soybean for CO2 enhancement of A at supraoptimal tem- peratures was probably not due to changes in stomatal conductance, but may be partially attributed to less down-regulation of Rubisco by elevated [CO2] in soybean than in rice. However, unidentified species differences in the temperature optimum for photosynthesis also appeared to be important. The responses of photosynthesis and Rubisco in rice and soybean suggest that among C3 plants species-specific differences will be encountered as a result of future increases in global [CO2] and air temperatures.

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] seed yield is influenced by planting date, pattern, and density of seeding, but cultivars differing in growth habit may vary in response to cultural treatments. Narrow‐row compared to conventional wide‐row plantings have consistently produced higher seed yields in the northern USA, where early maturity groups (MG) and indeterminate (INDT) types are commonly used. Positive responses to narrow rows have been less consistent in the southern USA, where late MG and determinate (DT) cultivars are common. Therefore, we hypothesize that this disparity in seed yield response to narrow‐row culture between the two areas is due to inherent differences in DT‐ and INDT‐type canopies resulting from their growth habits. This study, conducted in Gainesville, FL (29 ° 38′N) in 1984 and 1985, employed ‘Duocrop’ (INDT) and ‘Kirby’ (DT), May and July planting dates, 0.91‐, 0.61‐, and 0.30‐m interrow spacings, and 0.18‐ and 0.08‐m intrarow spacings in a Randomized Complete Block (RCB) design. Node and pod numbers, leaf area index (LAI), crop growth rate (CGR), total biomass, and seed yields were significantly increased (per unit land area) with increasing plant population density (PPD) up to a certain PPD, depending on spatial arrangement. The greatest seed yield of both INDT and DT types was from the May planting, narrow‐row culture (0.30 m), and high PPD, but response to PPD was confounded with squareness (ratio of intra‐ to interrow distance among plants) of planting pattern. High PPD (18 to 42 plants m−2 and high squareness values gave higher seed yields than combinations of lower PPDs and lower squareness values. We conclude that seed yield of both DT and INDT soybean in subtropical latitudes is optimized by May seeding, high PPD (40 plants m−2), and use of square planting patterns as approximated by narrow‐row culture.

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In order to accurately model the flowering process, it is essential to determine which environmental factors are affecting development at any point in time. The purpose of this research was to determine when different soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.) genotypes first become sensitive to photoperiod and how long photoperiod continues to influence the appearance of the first flower under optimal temperature conditions. Controlled‐environment experiments were conducted in which plants were switched at intervals between emergence and flowering from long‐day (22 h) to short‐day (9 h) treatments and from short‐ to long‐day treatments. AH photoperiod chambers were maintained at 26 °C both day and night. Six cultivars from six maturity groups were used: ‘Dawson’, ‘Williams’, ‘Ransom’, ‘Forrest’, ‘Davis’, and ‘Jupiter’. Two nearly isogenic breeding lines differing in response to inductive conditions were also evaluated. All cultivars tested were sensitive to photoperiod by the time the unifoliolate leaf was fully expanded. The experimental line bred for a lengthened juvenile phase exhibited apparent insensitivity to photoperiod for 11 d longer than any of the other genotypes. After flowering was induced, further inductive nights hastened flowering. for all cultivars, photoperiod during the last 6.3 to 8.7 d prior to expression of the first flower had no effect on time to first flower. Thus, for modeling purposes, the interval between emergence and first flower can be divided into four phases: (1) a purely vegetative phase (absent in most of the cultivars tested); (2) a photoperiod‐sensitive inductive phase; (3) a photoperiod‐sensitive post‐inductive phase; and (4) a photoperiod‐insensitive post‐inductive phase.

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