Effects of sand burial on survival and yield of mung bean

Horqin Sandy Land is one of the most severely desertified regions in Northern China because of heavy grazing, cultivation and the fuelwood gathering. It is also one of the major ecologically fragile zones in the world with strong wind and sand activity. Mung bean (Vigna radiata L.) is widely planted in the non-irrigated land of Horqin Sandy Land and suffered from sand burial inevitable. The survival rate and yield of mung bean were studied in Horqin Sandy Land to determine the effects of sand burial on the growth of mung bean and the response of mung bean to sand burial stress. We set one control (no burial) and four different sand burial treatments: A (burial to 1/4 of plant height), B (burial to 1/2 of plant height), C (burial to 3/4 of plant height), and D (completely burial) at seedling stage of mung bean. Results showed that the survival rate (98.90%) and total yield (81.66 g/m 2 ) of mung bean under control in harvest time were higher than those under burial treatments, and the value decreased significantly with the increase of sand burial depth, however, the 100-seed weight of mung bean at harvest time were as follows: treatment A (7.27 g) > treatment B (7.15 g) > control (6.67 g) > treatment C (6.62 g). Mung bean is not a species which could withstand sand burial stress well, and it was completely dead when the burial depth reached to treatment D level (completely burial).