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The analysis of grain yield of wheat in terms of photosynthetic ability and efficiency of translocation
Author(s) -
LUPTON F. G. H.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
annals of applied biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1744-7348
pISSN - 0003-4746
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7348.1968.tb04514.x
Subject(s) - anthesis , photosynthesis , biology , grain yield , agronomy , chromosomal translocation , yield (engineering) , carbohydrate , botany , horticulture , cultivar , biochemistry , materials science , metallurgy , gene
SUMMARY A technique, using 14 CO 2 , for measuring the rate of photosynthesis and the distribution of synthesized carbohydrate in the same plant, applied to wheat plants at intervals from 10 days before anthesis until the plants were no longer green, showed that the rate of photosynthesis by the leaves and ears decreased steadily; it was much less for ears than for leaves. The proportion of carbohydrate translocated to the grain was very small at and before anthesis, but increased rapidly afterwards. Integration of these data provided estimates of yield based on physiological components which showed good agreement with measured yields at harvest, though varietal differences in observed yield could not be explained. An experiment in which ears were removed from plants 7 days after anthesis showed that photosynthetic activity was not limited by the size of the ‘sink’ to which photosynthates were translocated.