Influence of Temperature Between Floral Initiation and Flag Leaf Emergence on Grain Number in Wheat

1979 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 391 ◽  
Author(s):  
HM Rawson ◽  
AK Bagga

Plants of Kalyansona, Condor and Janak semidwarf wheats, grown at a density of 130 plants m-2, were transferred every 4 days after floral initiation of the main shoot from temperature regimes of 27/22°C and 21/16°C to a regime of 15/10°C to determine if specific developmental stages of the ear are particularly important to the establishment of grain number. No stages between the appearance of double ridges and flag leaf emergence were significantly more sensitive to temperature changes than others, there being a progressive reduction in grain number per ear for every day that plants of Kalyansona and Condor remained at a higher temperature. Grain number of the main ear was closely correlated with the amount of dry matter in the stem, in the ear structure (chaff), and in the four uppermost leaves of the main shoot; the partial correlation coefficients demonstrated that leaf weight was best related to grain number. Thus large shoots with heavy ear structures had many grains and vice versa. It can be inferred from these results that the distribution of dry matter to the various plant organs before anthesis is in a strict proportionality irrespective of the availability of assimilates.

1975 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
KS Fischer ◽  
GL Wilson

Sorghum plants (cv. RS610) grown in field stands at two population densities were manipulated to increase the supply of assimilates (by removing neighbouring plants) at one of three developmental stages—10-15 days after floral initiation, 1 week prior to three-quarters anthesis, and 1 week after three-quarters anthesis. Post-initiation exposure increased the number of grains per inflorescence 1.8-fold and 3.5-fold in medium and high density populations respectively, but had relatively less effect on grain size. Higher grain number resulted largely from more grains per secondary branch in the lower part of the inflorescence. Neither of the post-heading exposure treatments influenced grain number, but the higher supply of assimilates resulted in larger grains at both densities. Differences at one density only between yield characteristics of plants exposed at the two times provide evidence of inter-plant competition for assimilates to the extent that the potential size of the grain may be affected. Shading (10% light transmission) of plants grown in a glasshouse, whether for 1 week at anthesis or during grain filling, reduced grain yield at maturity by the same amount as the immediate reduction at the end of the shading period. The experiment was unable to demonstrate changes in the potential size of grains resulting from the loss of assimilates at anthesis. There was substantial compensation for the loss by translocation from other plant parts. *Part III, Aust. J. Agric. Res., 26: 11 (1975).


1986 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 459 ◽  
Author(s):  
GD Batten ◽  
IF Wardlaw ◽  
MJ Aston

Experiments were designed to examine the effect of the level and duration of application of phosphorus (P) on yield in wheat and the effect of growth conditions prior to anthesis on the utilisation of P taken up during the early stages of development. In the first experiment, wheat (Triticum aestivum cv. Kite) was grown in sand and supplied with a complete nutrient solution containing either 1 mM phosphate or 0.25 mM phosphate. The supply of P was maintained until grain maturity, or stopped at different stages of development (floral initiation, flag leaf emergence, anthesis). The increase in total plant dry matter over this period ranged from 8.8 to 17.6 g/plant, with the 1.0 mM P supply and from 4.1 to 9.5 g/plant with the 0.25 mM P supply. Supply of P beyond anthesis resulted in more tiller dry matter and increased the P content of the grain, but did not increase grain yield at either level. With 1 mM P to maturity, up to 21% P of the grain P could be attributed to retranslocation of P within the plant after anthesis. With 0.25 mM P to floral initiation, 58% of the grain P could be attributed to such retranslocation. In a second experiment plants (cv. Kite) were grown initially at 18/13�C with 0.25 mM P until floral initiation and thereafter with a P-free solution until maturity. Between floral initiation and anthesis plants were placed in six dayhight temperatures, extending (in 3�C steps) from 15/10�C to 30/25OC, and then returned to the standard condition of 18/13�C. Higher pre-anthesis temperatures reduced the pre-anthesis growth period and the plant height, but increased the leaf phosphorus concentration and uptake of phosphorus per plant in both the pre- and post-anthesis periods. Net CO2 exchange indicated that leaf senescence in P-deficient plants was closely associated with the export of nitrogen as well as the export of P. Grain P increased from 0.15% to 0.3% when the preanthesis temperature was increased from 15/10 to 30/25�C, although grain yield per main culm did not vary greatly. These findings highlight the importance of environmental conditions in determining the level of P deficiency in wheat, and show that grain yield is not limited by the amount of P in the grain.


1995 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 507 ◽  
Author(s):  
JA Palta ◽  
IRP Fillery

The effect of fertilizer N on the growth, post-anthesis water deficits and remobilization of dry matter in spring wheat was measured on a duplex soil at East Beverley, Western Australia. Nitrogen was applied at 15, 30 and 60 kg N ha-1 with half being applied at seeding and the remainder at 35 days after sowing (DAS), immediately before the onset of tillering. The applied N generated differences in early growth (76-117 g m-2) and dry matter at anthesis (410-693 g m-2), mainly through the effect of N on tiller number (120-171 m-2) and tiller size. It also generated differences in the water deficit, particularly after flowering. During the first 21 days after anthesis, midday flag leaf water potential fell at rates of 0.04, 0.07 and 0.13 MPa day-1 at 15, 30 and 60 kg N ha-1 respectively. Grain yield at 60 kg N ha-1 was increased by 20% relative to that of 15 kg N ha-1. The increase in grain yield resulted from an increase in the number of ears and grain number per ear. The high N treatment probably induced the increase in the number of fertile tillers (tillers with an ear), but reduced the grain size by 16% relative to the low N treatment. Contribution of preanthesis dry matter to grain yield was 193 g m-2 for the wheat receiving 60 kg N ha-1, 71 g m-2 for wheat which received 30 kg N ha-1 and only 16 g m-2 for wheat which received 15 kg N ha-1. This indicates that at high N supply, grain growth was substantially supported by pre-anthesis stored assimilates.


1972 ◽  
Vol 12 (55) ◽  
pp. 165 ◽  
Author(s):  
JR Syme

Four wheats of similar maturity were compared at two seed rates and two nitrogen levels. The cultivars were two high-yielding Mexican semi-dwarf wheats, Pitic 62 and accession WW 15, one local semidwarf crossbred, HMR, and one Australian variety, Robin. At each of two sites WW 15 yielded most grain and Robin the least. Yield components, growth, development and leaf characters were studied at one site. The semi-dwarf wheats had a higher proportion of ear weight at anthesis and set more grains per ear and per unit area. The high yield of WW 15 was associated with many grains per ear and a dense ear population. There were relatively small differences in total dry matter yield and leaf area index. WW 15 formed the most leaves on the main stem, had the shortest period from flag leaf emergence to anthesis and showed delay in the senescence of its flag leaves. Its leaves were also particularly narrow and small. The early effects of a higher seed rate on crop growth diminished with time in the main experiment but resulted in a small increase in grain yield. Nitrogen stimulated growth throughout the season, but the increased vegetative potential was not fully reflected in grain yield. Both nitrogen and the higher seed rate hastened flag leaf senescence.


1993 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 211 ◽  
Author(s):  
HM Rawson ◽  
M Zajac

The intention of this work was to examine to what degree development in wheat is modified by increased temperature when other environmental factors are also varied. The genotypes used were an early season wheat, Hartog, and a closely related mid-season line, Late Hartog. Plants were grown throughout in temperature regimes of 25/15�C or 17/7�C and photoperiods of 9, 11, 13 or 15 h with 9 h of natural summer radiation. Seeds were vernalised for 0, 2 or 4 weeks. Increased temperature extended the thermal time to ear emergence, particularly in Late Hartog, and particularly under short days after plants had been vernalised for 4 weeks. Phyllochron intervals on the main shoot were increased by higher temperature, as were spikelet numbers in Late Hartog under long photoperiod. However, in Hartog and in Late Hartog exposed to short days, spikelet numbers were reduced by increased temperature. Long seed vernalisation significantly reduced leaf and spikelet number in Late Hartog but only at the higher temperature. Fewer spikelets were produced per leaf at short photoperiod. The apparently complex interactions between temperature, photoperiod, genotype, and seed vernalisation on development are explained in terms of their effects on the timing of floral initiation and the related numbers of primordia accumulated on the apex at that stage. We hypothesise that, in the absence of source limitation, delays in floral initiation such as occur through shortening of photoperiod can increase numbers of leaves and spikelets, though at a decreasing rate with increasing delay. When source is limiting, as under higher temperature and unchanged or reduced radiation, long delays result in a greater reduction in the rate of production of organs and their final number. We further propose that much of the change may be associated with the interplay between the plastochron and phyllochron intervals. Published data are examined to show that high temperatures delay ear emergence in other genotypes both in controlled environments and in the field.


1992 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 555 ◽  
Author(s):  
PJ Gregory ◽  
D Tennant ◽  
RK Belford

Growth, interception of radiation and water use of three genotypes of barley (Beecher, O'Connor and Syrian) and one of wheat (Gutha) were measured on a duplex soil at East Beverley, W.A. All crops received 11 kg P ha-1 with the seed but no nitrogen fertilizer. Growth was initially slow until 69 days after sowing (das) with only small and inconsistent differences between crops. Thereafter, Beecher and O'Connor grew faster than Syrian and Gutha, maintained growth for longer, and at harvest weighed about 7.5 t ha-1 shoot dry matter, while Syrian and Gutha were about 5.0 t ha-1. Total root weight and length of Gutha increased until anthesis but reached their maxima at 83 das in all barley crops. Root weight as a percentage of total plant weight was about 40% during the winter decreasing to about 15% by anthesis. Root distributions of Beecher and O'Connor were similar but different from those of Syrian and Gutha; the former had up to 25% of the total root length at anthesis below 40 cm, but the latter had only about 5%. Dry matter production was linearly related to the amount of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) intercepted, although the relations showed a break at about the time of flag leaf emergence, and efficiencies of conversion of PAR to dry matter were higher prior to this than after. Efficiencies for the barley crops were similar (about 2 g total dry weight MJ-1 before flag leaf emergence) and about 20% greater than for Gutha. Despite the large differences in dry matter production between crops, evapotranspiration (ET) was similar. For Beecher and O'Connor, evaporation E was about 40% of seasonal ET but for Syrian and Gutha it was about 50%. Values of water use efficiency (about 30 kg shoot ha-1 mm-1 for Beecher and OIConnor and 20 kg ha-1 mm-1 for Syrian and Gutha) were similar to other cereal crops and the amount of shoot dry matter per unit of water transpired for barley crops grown in W.A., U.K. and Syria was nearly constant; the value of the 'crop specific constant' was 3.0 Pa.


1983 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Darwinkel

Winter wheat cv. Caribo (1979) or Arminda and Okapi (1980) was provided with an additional N dressing at different stages between tillering and ear emergence after a basal N dose applied at the onset of tillering. The effect of N on ear formation depended greatly on the growth stage at the time of N application. Max. effects on tiller formation and spikelet initiation were achieved when additional N was supplied at the beginning of tillering; on ear number when N was supplied at the onset of stem elongation; on the numbers of fertile spikelets, grains/fertile spikelet and grains/ear when N was applied during stem elongation until flag leaf emergence and on single grain wt. when N was applied at ear emergence. Variations in 1000-grain wt. were small, therefore grain yield/ear as well as yield/unit area was largely determined by grain number. Main shoots outyielded ear-bearing tillers because of a higher grain number. In ear-bearing tillers, grain yield largely depended on grain number, being highest in the older tillers. Grain formation of ear-bearing tillers was more strongly affected by the time of additional N application than that of main shoots. Top-dressings of N applied during stem elongation increased the grain number of ear-bearing tillers considerably, because both the number of fertile spikelets and the grain number/fertile spikelet were higher. In the young late-appeared tillers, the opt. time to apply additional N for grain set shifted to later stages of development. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission)


Weed Science ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-393
Author(s):  
Jing Dai ◽  
Jochum J. Wiersma ◽  
Krishona L. Martinson ◽  
Beverly R. Durgan

Successful control of wild oat in cereal crops requires an accurate prediction of the developmental stages of wild oat plants that emerged during the growing season. The main objective of this research was to evaluate wild oat growth and to predict the phyllochron of wild oat plants that emerge at various times in the Red River Valley region of Minnesota and North Dakota. Field experiments were conducted in 2002 and 2003 in Crookston, MN, and Fargo, ND. Four emergence cohorts were established in 4 successive wk. Research plots were arranged in randomized complete blocks with six replications. From the naturally emerged wild oat population, 10 randomly selected plants per plot were evaluated for plant height, leaves on main stem, tillers per plant, total leaves per plant, days to flag leaf emergence and to heading, biomass per plant, and seeds per plant. Haun's numerical cereal development scale was regressed on days after emergence (DAE), day length (DL), growing degree days (GDD), or photothermal units (PTU). Wild oats that emerged first required more time for flag leaf emergence and heading, were taller, and had more biomass, leaves, tillers, and seed production than wild oat plants that emerged later. Wild oat phyllochron intervals were 5.3 d, 94 GDD, or 1,468 PTU, regardless of emergence timing. These data suggest that wild oat phyllochron is primarily driven by air temperature and is relatively stable during the extended emergence period. Later-emerging wild oat plants, although not as competitive as earlier emerging ones, still have the potential to contribute to the seed bank if left uncontrolled.


1980 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 387 ◽  
Author(s):  
IF Wardlaw ◽  
I Sofield ◽  
PM Cartwright

Increasing temperatures from 21/16°C to 30/25°C, during the period of development from anthesis to maturity, substantially reduced grain dry weight in wheat. Although this was associated with a shorter duration of grain development, the failure to obtain any compensating increase in the rate of dry matter accumulation, as occurs in the lower temperature ranges, was also considered important. There was no evidence that night temperatures were more important than day temperatures. Analysis of the movement of 14C-labelled photosynthate from the flag leaf to the ear indicated a faster rate of import of photosynthate by the grain at the higher temperature. However carbon lost through respiration is a component of the ear demand for photosynthate and it appears that increase in movement of photosynthate was balanced by greater respiratory losses. This additional carbon lost through enhanced respiration at high temperature could, however, only account at the most for 25% of the reduction in grain dry weight that occurred with the temperature increase from 21/16°C to 30/25°C. Altering either the demand for photosynthate by grain removal, or the supply of photosynthate by a defoliation and shading treatment, did not prevent the reduction in grain dry weight due to high temperature and this is a further indication that the temperature effect occurred mainly within, or close to, the grain itself, and did not result from an effect on the availability of photosynthate.


1995 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Scholz ◽  
M.C.F. Pech-Ek ◽  
R. Rodriguez-Canul

AbstractField study on the biology of Crassicutis cichlasomae Manter, 1936 (Digenea: Homalometridae) was carried out in a small swamp in a limestone factory near Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico. Aquatic snails, Littorina (Littoridinopsis) angulifera, harbouring C. cichlasomae rediae, cercariae and metacercariae, served both as the first and second intermediate hosts. Feeding experiments confirmed the conspecificity of metacercariae from naturally infected snails with adults from naturally infected fish. Gravid C. cichlasomae worms were obtained from experimentally infected fish 19 days post exposure at 22–24°C. Examination of fish from the swamp in Mitza and other localities in the Yucatan Peninsula showed that the cichlids Cichlasoma urophthalmus and C. meeki were definitive hosts of C. cichlasomae. There was no pronounced preference of C. cichlasomae adults for the site of their location in the intestine of the definitive host; a slightly higher proportion (41%) of worms was only found in the anterior third of the gut. The time of miracidium development varied from 18.5 to 27.5 days; different temperature (20.1–35.7°C) or light/darkness regimes influenced only slightly the rate of embryonic development, with shorter development times at higher temperature (34.8–35.7°C) and constant darkness and/or light. With the exception of the sporocyst, all developmental stages are described and figured.


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