Co-Authors:
Blum, A., Division of Field Crops, The Volcani Center, ARO, POB 6, Bet Dagan, Israel
Poiarkova, H., Division of Field Crops, The Volcani Center, ARO, POB 6, Bet Dagan, Israel
Golan, G., Division of Field Crops, The Volcani Center, ARO, POB 6, Bet Dagan, Israel
Mayer, J., Division of Field Crops, The Volcani Center, ARO, POB 6, Bet Dagan, Israel
Abstract:
A review of the literature shows that when cereal crop plants are subjected to post-anthesis stress of the photosynthetic system (such as drought and heat), kernel growth is supported to a larger extent by the mobilization of plant reserves, relative to transient photosynthesis, and that genetic variation exists in this respect. It was hypothesized that chemical destruction of the plant's photosynthetic source after anthesis may reveal genotypes that sustain translocation-based kernel growth in the absence of photosynthesis, and can then be used as an indirect screen for tolerance to post-anthesis stress. Four spring wheat cultivars (Lakhish, Cajeme, V591-51 and V582-58) were grown in the field under non-stress conditions and were sprayed once with a chemical desiccant (magnesium chlorate) 14 days after anthesis; they were compared with a non-treated control. The chemical desiccant killed awns, glumes, leaf laminae and parts of the spike-peduncle and leaf sheaths. The treatment induced earlier stem dry matter loss in two cultivars (Lakhish and V591-51, group I), and not in the two others (Cajeme and V582-58, group II). The pattern of stem dry matter loss in the group II cultivars did not differ between treatments. Kernel growth rate was reduced by the treatment, to a relatively lesser extent in group I than in group II. Cultivars of group I were therefore better than cultivars of group II in sustaining kernel growth in the absence of photosynthesis and this difference was associated with a respective difference in stem reserves mobilization. © 1983.