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Effects of decreasing the number of grains in ears of cvs Hobbit and Maris Huntsman winter wheat
Author(s) -
RADLEY M. E.,
THORNE G. N.
Publication year - 1981
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.1744-7348.1981.tb00432.x
Subject(s) - anthesis , biology , dry weight , sugar , agronomy , nitrogen , maturity (psychological) , crop , horticulture , cultivar , chemistry , food science , psychology , developmental psychology , organic chemistry
SUMMARY At 6 days after anthesis, grain numbers in ears of Maris Huntsman and Hobbit winter wheat growing in the field were decreased either by removing the two lower grains in each spikelet (degraining) or by removing the top half of the ear (halving). At maturity, degraining increased the dry weight of the third grains in each spikelet of Maris Huntsman by 11% and of Hobbit by 40%, compared with third grains in intact ears. Halving increased the mean dry weight of all the grains in the lower six spikelets of the ear slightly less; it increased the number of grains in Hobbit but not in Maris Huntsman. The responses to halving in Hobbit were greater with additional nitrogen fertiliser. At 28 days after anthesis in both varieties, degraining increased grain dry weight and the amount of water, reducing sugar, amino acids and total nitrogen in third grains. Effects of halving on these properties of the two lower grains of each spikelet were much less or nil. The increases in nitrogen content of grains at 28 days and at maturity caused by degraining or halving were relatively greater than the increases in dry weight and were similar in the two varieties.