Premium
Tiller Senescence and Grain Development in Barley 1
Author(s) -
Laude Horton M.,
Ridley Jack R.,
Suneson Coit A.
Publication year - 1967
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1967.0011183x000700030018x
Subject(s) - tiller (botany) , biology , senescence , sterility , shoot , cultivar , agronomy , nutrient , horticulture , botany , genetics , ecology
Two near‐isogenic barley cultivars segregating for male sterility were employed to study tiller senescence. This plant material made possible the simultaneous comparison of fruiting and nonfruiting plants without resort to debudding or mechanically removing flowers or fruits. The number of living tillers and tiller mortality was similar in fertile and sterile plants until some 10 days after awn emergence. Between jointing and awn emergence, extensive tiller senescence occurred in fertile and in sterile plants alike. This senescence is not attributable to the mobilization of nutrients into the developing fruit. The triggering mechanism for the preheading shoot senescence appears to be operative at initial stages of floral development and before mechanical debudding is feasible. Ten days to 2 weeks after awn emergence, new tillers arose rapidly on the male‐sterile plants. Renewed tillering on the fertile plants was delayed an additional 3 weeks.