Claim · model-written summary
Soil water at sowing was a good indicator of damaging deficit likelihood.
- Taxon
- faba bean
Vicia fabat0 - Outcome
- likelihood of damaging water deficite1
- Setting
- Soil water at sowinge0
Not reportedMaterialGeneCompoundOrgan / stageInteractorInteractor roleSecond interactorSecond interactor roleTreatmentComparatorDirectionValueQualifier
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“Soil water at sowing is a good indicator of this likelihood”
e1“likelihood of damaging water deficit is small”
t0“faba bean”
Title
R. J. French Crop and Pasture Science 2010. doi:10.1071/cp09372
Other claims from this paper (13)
- Observation Long dry periods at Merredin were more likely in April than May or June.
- Observation Under the farmer-based sowing rule, damaging water deficit was unlikely.
- Observation In 1997, eight-week-old plants wilted severely after six weeks without rain at 24 mm simulated PAW40.
- Observation No faba bean mortality occurred after eight rainless weeks, and plants recovered rapidly on rewatering.
- Intervention effect Faba bean plants recovered quickly after rewatering.
- Intervention effect Water deficit reduced faba bean grain yield.
- Mechanism The authors attributed reduced grain yield partly to lower evapotranspiration under water deficit.
- Mechanism Severely stressed plants extracted water from shallower soil than less stressed plants, contributing to yield loss.
- Observation In 1998, no wilting was observed after eight weeks without water at simulated PAW40 of 41 mm.
- Intervention effect Mild water deficit did not affect apparent transpiration efficiency in either year.
- Intervention effect Delaying sowing in 1998 reduced apparent transpiration efficiency by 35%.
- Mechanism The authors attributed the lower transpiration efficiency of later sowing to higher vapour pressure deficit during reproductive growth.
- Recommendation The authors recommend against delaying faba bean sowing unless severe early water deficit is strongly likely.