Rate of change in harvest index during grain-filling of wheat | The Journal of Agricultural Science | Cambridge Core (original) (raw)

Summary

A constant rate of change in harvest index (dHI/dt = k) has recently been incorporated into several crop simulation models, so that final grain yield can be calculated from final biomass and the duration of grain growth. Implicit is the assumption that dHI/dt is conservative across treatments and environments. This assumption was tested using data from five experiments grown in the United Kingdom (1973, 1978, 1994) and New Zealand (1992, 1993). The experiments included commercial spring and winter wheat cultivars introduced during the last 100 years and nitrogen, irrigation, sowing date, temperature and CO2 treatments. In all cases, the time course of harvest index (HI) had an initial lag phase, a linear phase and a maturation phase. The linear phase was stable in field-grown crops, except for a reduction in slope after lodging in some crops. Values for dHI/dt, taken as the slope of the linear phase, varied with variety and available nitrogen, were stable for a given variety among years, and were unaffected by water stress. Variation in dHI/dt among varieties was independent of their year of introduction, although those with the Rht2 semi-dwarfing gene generally achieved a higher final HI due to a reduced lag phase. Differences in the duration of the linear phase also caused differences in the final HI after drought. The upper and lower limits of dHI/dt for fieldgrown crops were 1·37 and 0·64% d-1 but, under normal fertility conditions, the variation was between 0·90 and 1·19 % d-1. Results indicated that dHI/dt could provide an effective semi-empirical relationship for predicting grain yield in simulation models. The consistent, linear nature of this relationship suggests a physiological maximum for dHI/dt, for a given species and variety. It may be possible to exploit varietal differences in dHI/dt, and in the lag phase, for yield improvement.

References

Amir, J. & Sinclair, T. R. (1991). A model of the temperature and solar-radiation effects on spring wheat growth and yield. Field Crops Research 28, 47–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Austin, R. B., Ford, M. A., Edrich, J. A. & Hooper, B. E. (1976). Some effects of leaf posture on photosynthesis and yield in wheat. Annals of Applied Biology 83, 425–446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Austin, R. B., Ford, M. A., Edrich, J. A. & Blackwell, R. D. (1977). The nitrogen economy of winter wheat. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 88, 159–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Austin, R. B., Bingham, J., Blackwell, R. D., Evans, L. T., Ford, M. A., Morgan, C. L. & Taylor, M. (1980). Genetic improvements in winter wheat yields since 1900 and associated physiological changes. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 94, 675–689.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Austin, R. B., Ford, M. A. & Morgan, C. L. (1989). Genetic improvement in the yield of winter wheat: a further evaluation. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 112, 295–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Blum, A., Mayer, J. & Gozlan, G. (1982). Infrared thermal sensing of plant canopies as a screening technique for dehydration avoidance in wheat. Field Crops Research 5, 137–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Gallagher, J. N. & Biscoe, P. V. (1978). Radiation absorption, growth and yield of cereals. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 91, 47–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Gent, M. P. N. (1994). Photosynthate reserves during grain rilling in winter wheat. Agronomy Journal 86, 159–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Gregory, P. J., Marshall, B. & Biscoe, P. V. (1981). Nutrient relations of winter wheat. 3. Nitrogen uptake, photosynthesis of flag leaves and translocation of nitrogen to grain. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 96, 539–547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Jamieson, P. D., Martin, R. J. & Francis, G. S. (1995). Drought influences on grain yield of barley, wheat and maize. New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science 23, 55–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Lawlor, D. W., Day, W., Johnston, A. E., Legg, B. J. & Parkinson, K. J. (1981). Growth of spring barley under drought: crop development, photosynthesis, dry-matter accumulation and nutrient content. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 96, 167–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Marshall, B. & Biscoe, PL. V. (1980). A model for C3 leaves describing the dependence of net photosynthesis on irradiance. I. Derivation. Journal of Experimental Botany 31, 29–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Moot, D. J., Henderson, A. L., Porter, J. R. & Semenov, M. A. (1996). Temperature, CO2 and the growth and development of wheat: changes in the mean and variability of growing conditions. Climatic Change.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Muchow, R. C. (1988). Effect of nitrogen supply on the comparative productivity of maize and sorghum in a semiarid tropical environment. III. Grain yield and nitrogen accumulation. Field Crops Research 18, 31–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Muchow, R. C. (1990). Effect of high temperature on graingrowth in field-grown maize. Field Crops Research 23, 145–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Muchow, R. C., Sinclair, T. R. & Bennett, J. M. (1990). Temperature and solar radiation effects on potential maize yield across locations. Agronomy Journal 82, 338–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Payne, R. W., Lane, P. W., Ainsley, A. E., Bicknell, K. E., Digby, P. G. N., Harding, S. A., Leech, P. K., Simpson, H. R., Todd, A. D., Verrier, P. J., White, R. P., Gower, J. C., Tunnicliffe-Wllson, G. & Paterson, L. J. (1987). Genstat 5 Reference Manual. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Porter, J. R. (1993). AFRCWHEAT2: A model of the growth and development of wheat incorporating responses to water and nitrogen. European Journal of Agronomy 2, 69–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Porter, J. R., Jamieson, P. D. & Wilson, D. R. (1993). Comparison of the wheat simulation models AFRCWHEAT2, CERES-Wheat and SWHEAT for non-limiting conditions of crop growth. Field Crops Research 33, 131–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Ritchie, J. T. & Otter, S. (1985). Description and performance of CERES-Wheat: a user-orientated wheat yield model. United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Services, ARS 38, 159–175.Google Scholar

Schnyder, H. (1993). The role of carbohydrate storage and redistribution in the source–sink relations of wheat and barley during grain filling – a review. New Phytologist 123, 233–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Schnyder, H. & Baum, U. (1992). Growth of the grain of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The relationship between water content and dry matter accumulation. European Journal of Agronomy 1, 51–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Seligman, N. G., Loomis, R. S., Burke, J. & Abshahi, A. (1983). Nitrogen nutrition and canopy temperature in field-grown spring wheat. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 101, 691–697.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Sinclair, T. R. & De Wit, C. T. (1975). Photosynthate and nitrogen requirements for seed production by various crops. Science 189, 565–567.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Slafer, G. A. & Savin, R. (1994). Source-sink relationships and grain mass at different positions within the spike in wheat. Field Crops Research 37, 39–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Snedecor, G. W. & Cochran, W. G. (1980). Statistical Methods. Ames, Iowa, USA: Iowa State University Press.Google Scholar

Sofield, I., Evans, L. T., Cook, M. G. & Wardlaw, I. F. (1977). Factors influencing the rate and duration of grain filling in wheat. Australian Journal of Plant Physiology 4, 785–797.Google Scholar

Spaeth, S. C. & Sinclair, T. R. (1985). Linear increase in soybean harvest index during seed-filling. Agronomy Journal 77, 207–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Spiertz, J. H. J. & Vos, J. (1985). Grain growth of wheat and its limitation by carbohydrate and nitrogen supply. In Wheat Growth and Modelling (Eds Day, W. & Atkin, R. K.), pp. 129–141. London: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Van Keulen, H. & Seligman, N. G. (1987). Simulation of Water Use, Nitrogen Nutrition and Growth of a Spring Wheat Crop. Wageningen: Pudoc.Google Scholar