Time to Onset of Flowering, Water Use, and Yield in Wheat

Crop breeding has been successful in increasing crop grain yield (GY; reproductive biomass) largely through reduced vegetative size, increased reproductive effort (RE = reproductive biomass/total biomass) and increased water-use efficiency (WUE) in grain production. Flowering time is an important life history trait that signifies the switch from vegetative to reproductive growth. The relationship between GY and time from sowing to flowering (Tsf) is unclear. We fit the relationships between GY and RE vs. Tsf to the logistic model using data from 18 spring wheat genotypes grown under simulated rainfed conditions. Tsf accounted for water use before and after flowering, root length density, total leaf area, and the time from flowering to harvest. Early flowering meant decreased water use before flowering and increased water use afterward. Soil water remaining at harvest was positively correlated with yield. Early flowering genotypes have a higher WUE of grain production, but there was no significant difference in the WUE of total biomass production. The relationship between grain yield and Tsf is described as a unimodal curve, as is the relationship between RE and Tsf. Higher yields and a higher RE have been achieved through earlier flowering, and both RE and Tsf reached their optimal values for maximizing GY. Crop breeding is unlikely to achieve further increases in GY through this route in the future. The results suggest that breeding does not improve biomass’s water-use efficiency, but causes changes in biomass allocation strategy, and this could be a new direction for genetically improving grain yield.

[1]  Y. Zhu,et al.  The relationship between characteristics of root morphology and grain filling in wheat under drought stress , 2021, PeerJ.

[2]  J. Palta,et al.  Wheat cultivars with small root length density in the topsoil increased post-anthesis water use and grain yield in the semi-arid region on the Loess Plateau , 2021 .

[3]  N. Anten,et al.  Yield components, reproductive allometry and the tradeoff between grain yield and yield stability in dryland spring wheat , 2020 .

[4]  R. Furbank,et al.  Photons to food: genetic improvement of cereal crop photosynthesis , 2020, Journal of experimental botany.

[5]  R. Sylvester-Bradley,et al.  Optimizing dry-matter partitioning for increased spike growth, grain number and harvest index in spring wheat , 2019, Field Crops Research.

[6]  A. Hund,et al.  Modern wheat semi-dwarfs root deep on demand: response of rooting depth to drought in a set of Swiss era wheats covering 100 years of breeding , 2019, Euphytica.

[7]  R. Meyer,et al.  Accelerated flowering time reduces lifetime water use without penalizing reproductive performance in Arabidopsis , 2019, Plant, cell & environment.

[8]  J. Weiner,et al.  Evolutionary agroecology: Trends in root architecture during wheat breeding , 2018, Evolutionary applications.

[9]  V. Sadras,et al.  Root pruning enhances wheat yield, harvest index and water-use efficiency in semiarid area , 2019, Field Crops Research.

[10]  Li He,et al.  Approach to Higher Wheat Yield in the Huang-Huai Plain: Improving Post-anthesis Productivity to Increase Harvest Index , 2018, Front. Plant Sci..

[11]  Kun Wu,et al.  Modulating plant growth-metabolism coordination for sustainable agriculture , 2018, Nature.

[12]  P. Langridge,et al.  Early Flowering as a Drought Escape Mechanism in Plants: How Can It Aid Wheat Production? , 2017, Front. Plant Sci..

[13]  M. Khalid,et al.  Physiological, biochemical and agronomic traits associated with drought tolerance in a synthetic-derived wheat diversity panel , 2017, Crop and Pasture Science.

[14]  B. Badu‐Apraku,et al.  Yield Gains in Extra‐Early Maize Cultivars of Three Breeding Eras under Multiple Environments , 2017 .

[15]  K. Siddique,et al.  Effects of drought stress on morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics of wheat species differing in ploidy level. , 2017, Functional plant biology : FPB.

[16]  Jin He,et al.  Conserved water use improves the yield performance of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) under drought , 2017 .

[17]  Yu Zhang,et al.  Progress in genetic improvement of grain yield and related physiological traits of Chinese wheat in Henan Province , 2016 .

[18]  Yongfei Bai,et al.  Functional correlations between specific leaf area and specific root length along a regional environmental gradient in Inner Mongolia grasslands , 2016 .

[19]  X. Chang,et al.  Overexpression of wheat gene TaMOR improves root system architecture and grain yield in Oryza sativa , 2016, Journal of experimental botany.

[20]  V. Sadras,et al.  Yield and water use efficiency of wheat in the Loess Plateau: Responses to root pruning and defoliation , 2015 .

[21]  M. Reynolds,et al.  The Physiological Basis of the Genetic Progress in Yield Potential of CIMMYT Spring Wheat Cultivars from 1966 to 2009 , 2015 .

[22]  J. McKay,et al.  QTL analysis of root morphology, flowering time, and yield reveals trade-offs in response to drought in Brassica napus , 2014, Journal of experimental botany.

[23]  P. Vermeulen On selection for flowering time plasticity in response to density. , 2015, The New phytologist.

[24]  M. El-rawy,et al.  Effectiveness of drought tolerance indices to identify tolerant genotypes in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) , 2014, Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology.

[25]  D. Schachtman,et al.  Challenges of modifying root traits in crops for agriculture. , 2014, Trends in plant science.

[26]  T. Juenger,et al.  Direct and indirect selection on flowering time, water-use efficiency (WUE, δ 13C), and WUE plasticity to drought in Arabidopsis thaliana , 2014, Ecology and evolution.

[27]  S. Franks,et al.  The shape of selection: using alternative fitness functions to test predictions for selection on flowering time , 2014, Evolutionary Ecology.

[28]  T. Středa,et al.  Improved wheat grain yield by a new method of root selection , 2014, Agronomy for Sustainable Development.

[29]  T. Herben,et al.  Species traits and plant performance: functional trade‐offs in a large set of species in a botanical garden , 2012 .

[30]  T. Mitchell-Olds,et al.  Phenotypic plasticity and adaptive evolution contribute to advancing flowering phenology in response to climate change , 2012, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[31]  James H. Brown,et al.  Models and tests of optimal density and maximal yield for crop plants , 2012, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[32]  G. Bultosa,et al.  Genetic variability, heritability and trait associations in durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var. durum) genotypes , 2011 .

[33]  Shucun Sun,et al.  Flowering phenology and height growth pattern are associated with maximum plant height, relative growth rate and stem tissue mass density in herbaceous grassland species , 2011 .

[34]  M. Zaman-Allah,et al.  A conservative pattern of water use, rather than deep or profuse rooting, is critical for the terminal drought tolerance of chickpea , 2011, Journal of experimental botany.

[35]  M. Akçura The relationships of some traits in Turkish winter bread wheat landraces , 2011 .

[36]  W. Davies,et al.  Raising yield potential of wheat. III. Optimizing partitioning to grain while maintaining lodging resistance. , 2011, Journal of experimental botany.

[37]  Tom Beeckman,et al.  The roots of a new green revolution. , 2010, Trends in plant science.

[38]  T. Nishio,et al.  A Brassica rapa Linkage Map of EST-based SNP Markers for Identification of Candidate Genes Controlling Flowering Time and Leaf Morphological Traits , 2009, DNA Research.

[39]  Liwei Shao,et al.  Root size, distribution and soil water depletion as affected by cultivars and environmental factors. , 2009 .

[40]  Abraham Blum,et al.  Effective use of water (EUW) and not water-use efficiency (WUE) is the target of crop yield improvement under drought stress , 2009 .

[41]  Wenzhao Liu,et al.  Effects of root pruning on competitive ability and water use efficiency in winter wheat , 2008 .

[42]  F. V. van Eeuwijk,et al.  Association mapping of leaf traits, flowering time, and phytate content in Brassica rapa. , 2007, Genome.

[43]  F. Andrade,et al.  Harvest index stability of Argentinean maize hybrids released between 1965 and 1993 , 2003 .

[44]  H. Kudoh,et al.  Intrinsic cost of delayed flowering in annual plants : negative correlation between flowering time and reproductive effort , 2002 .

[45]  Da‐Yong Zhang,et al.  Donald's ideotype and growth redundancy: a game theoretical analysis , 1999 .

[46]  T. Mitchell-Olds PLEIOTROPY CAUSES LONG‐TERM GENETIC CONSTRAINTS ON LIFE‐HISTORY EVOLUTION IN BRASSICA RAPA , 1996, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[47]  S. Yoshida,et al.  Relationship between plant type and root growth in rice , 1982 .

[48]  D. Cohen,et al.  Maximizing final yield when growth is limited by time or by limiting resources. , 1971, Journal of theoretical biology.