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Differences in yield physiology between modern, well adapted durum wheat cultivars grown under contrasting conditions
► We studied differences in yield physiology between different modern durum wheats under contrasting conditions. ► Main differences were related to biomass and N uptake. ► Differences in grain number were related to both spike dry weight at anthesis and fruiting efficiency. ► Grain weight was consis...
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Published in: | Field crops research 2012-09, Vol.136, p.52-64 |
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Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | ► We studied differences in yield physiology between different modern durum wheats under contrasting conditions. ► Main differences were related to biomass and N uptake. ► Differences in grain number were related to both spike dry weight at anthesis and fruiting efficiency. ► Grain weight was consistently higher in the cultivars with lower fruiting efficiency. ► N-availability affected grain number through affecting its effects on crop growth seemingly without specific effects.
Yield differences among wheat cultivars and its responsiveness to resource availability are usually related to grain number per m2, and further increases in grain number are required, but now beyond differences in time to anthesis and plant height (that are mostly optimised in traditional growing regions). The objective of this paper was to determine and quantify differences in yield physiology between different modern well adapted durum wheats grown in contrasting conditions (in addition we also tested if a higher amount of resources due to removal of competition could affect yield through the same determinants to nitrogen (N) availability).
Four experiments were carried out during two growing seasons (2008–09 and 2009–2010); all in all under eight different growing conditions (Gc1–Gc8). In the first season four different modern cultivars were used and in the second season we selected the two highest-yielding cultivars, which differed in their responses to N in terms of spike fertility.
Yield was closely related to biomass and N uptake due to both growing conditions and genotypic effects in all experiments. The existence of variation among modern cultivars in these yield determinants is relevant as further increases in yield must be achieved beyond further increases in partitioning. Yield differences among cultivars were based on their differences in grains per m2 or average grain weight depending on which cultivars were compared. Overall grain number was related to spike dry weight at anthesis, and no evidences were found for a direct involvement of N in grain number determination, beyond the general effect of N availability on spike dry matter. However, this overall effect was mainly driven by growing conditions whilst differences between genotypes seemed associated with either spike dry weight at anthesis or fruiting efficiency, which varied significantly between cultivars. Interestingly, grain weight was consistently higher in the cultivars with lower fruiting efficiency than i |
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ISSN: | 0378-4290 1872-6852 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.fcr.2012.07.015 |