Wheat genotypes with high early vigour accumulate more nitrogen and have higher photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency during early growth.

Genotypic differences in early growth and nitrogen (N) uptake among 24 wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes were assessed in a field trial. At late tillering, large genetic variation was observed for shoot biomass (23-56gm-2 ground area) and N uptake (1.1-1.8gm-2 ground area). A strong correlation between aboveground biomass and N uptake was observed. Variation around this relationship was also found, with some genotypes having similar N uptake but large differences in aboveground biomass. A controlled environment experiment was conducted to investigate the underlying mechanisms for this variation in aboveground biomass using three vigorous genotypes (38-19, 92-11 and CV97) and a non-vigorous commercial cultivar (Janz). Vigorous genotypes had lower specific leaf N in the youngest fully expanded leaf than Janz. However, there was no difference in chlorophyll content, maximum Rubisco activity or the rate of electron transport per unit area. This suggests that Janz invested more N in non-photosynthetic components than the vigorous lines, which could explain the higher photosynthetic N use efficiency of the vigorous genotypes. The results suggest that the utilisation of wheat genotypes with high early vigour could improve the efficiency of N use for biomass production in addition to improving N uptake during early growth.

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