Summary
A glasshouse study was conducted to describe the dynamics of leaf and tiller appearance of four accessions of T. tauschii (Tt 04, Tt 17, Tt 65 and Tt 74) and to determine the influence of moisture stress (treatments were high and low moisture, imposed seven days after transplanting) on these and other aspects of development in this wild wheat.
Under high moisture conditions, accessions differed greatly in flag leaf dimensions, culm length and seed number per spike, the values being lower in Tt 04 than in the other accessions. Low moisture strongly reduced values for these traits, with Tt 04 being least affected, but overall, there was no apparent association between the values obtained for these variables in the high moisture conditions and the effects of moisture stress. For three of the four accessions, final leaf number on the main culm was significantly lower in the low moisture treatment than in the respective control (P<0.05), but the differences between treatments (ca. 0.5 leaves or less) were very small. Maximum tiller number, on the other hand, was strongly reduced by low moisture, and initiation of tillering was inhibited until water was reapplied. There were no apparent after-effects of the moisture regime on the rate of subsequent tiller appearance.
The four accessions differed in their leaf appearance rates, giving phyllochron values (117–142° Cd leaf-1) within the range reported for hexaploid wheat. Low moisture tended to increase phyllochron, but in only one accession was this effect significant. Thus, depending on the accession, low moisture did not affect, or slightly decreased (by ca. 15–20%) the rate of leaf appearance. These effects were similar to those reported for cultivated wheat suggesting that there would be little scope for using these accessions of T. tauschii in breeding for stress tolerance.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Angus, J.F. & M.W. Moncur, 1977. Water stress and phenology in wheat. Aust. J. Agric. Res. 28: 177–181.
Baker, C.K., J.N. Gallagher & J.L. Monteith, 1980. Daylength and leaf appearance in winter wheat. Plant Cell Environ. 3: 285–287.
Baker, J.T., P.J. Pinter Jr., R.J. Reginato & E.T. Kanemasu, 1986. Effects of temperature on leaf appearance in spring and winter wheat cultivars. Agron. J. 78: 605–613.
Bauer, A., A.B. Frank & A.L. Black, 1984. Estimation of spring wheat leaf growth rates and anthesis from air temperature. Agron. J. 76: 829–835.
Blum, A., G. Golan, J. Mayer, B. Sinmena, L. Shpiler & J. Burra, 1989. The drought response of landraces of wheat from the northern Negev Desert in Israel. Euphytica 43: 87–96.
Boone, M.Y.L., R.W. Rickman & F.D. Whisler, 1990. Leaf appearance rates of two winter wheat cultivars under high carbon dioxide conditions. Agron. J. 82: 718–724.
Gallagher, J.N., 1979. Field studies of cereal leaf growth. J. Exp. Bot. 30: 625–636.
Halloran, G.M., 1990. The genetic architecture of wheat-implications for wheat breeding. Proc. Sixth Assembly Wheat Breeding Society of Australia, p. 171–179.
Hay, R.K.M. & R. Delécolle, 1989. The setting of rates of development of wheat plants at crop emergence: Influence of the environment on rates of leaf appearance. Ann. Appl. Biol. 115: 333–341.
Haun, J.R., 1973. Visual quantification of wheat development. Agron. J. 65: 116–119.
Kirby, E.J.M., M. Appleyard & G. Fellowes, 1982. Effect of sowing date on the temperature response of leaf emergence and leaf size in barley. Plant Cell Environ. 5: 477–484.
Kirby, E.J.M., M. Appleyard & G. Fellowes, 1985. Effect of sowing date and variety on main shoot leaf emergence and number of leaves of barley and wheat. Agronomie 5: 117–126.
Kirby, E.J.M. & M.W. Perry, 1987. Leaf emergence rates of wheat in a Mediterranean environment. Aust. J. Agric. Res. 38: 455–464.
Krenzer Jr., E.G., T.L. Nipp & R.W. McNew, 1991. Winter wheat mainstem leaf appearance and tiller formation vs. moisture treatment. Agron. J. 83: 663–667.
Miralles, D.J. & G.A. Slafer (ex aequo), 1991. A simple model for non-destructive estimates of leaf area in wheat. Cer. Res. Commun. 19: 439–444.
Peterson, C.M., B. Klepper & R.W. Rickman, 1982. Tiller development at the coleoptile node in winter wheat. Agron. J. 74: 781–784.
Peterson, C.M., B. Klepper & R.W. Rickman, 1989. Seed reserves and seedling development in winter wheat. Agron. J. 81: 245–251.
Reddy, N., M.E. Nicolas & G.M. Halloran, 1993. Evaluating Triticum tauschii as a source of drought tolerance for wheat. Proc. Tenth Australian Plant Breeding Conference 2: 99–100.
Richards, R.A., 1991. Crop improvement for temperate Australia. Field Crops Res. 26: 141–169.
Slafer, G.A., D.J. Connor & G.M. Halloran, 1994a. Rate of leaf appearance and final number of leaves in wheat: effects of duration and rate of change of photoperiod. Ann. Bot. 74: 427–436.
Slafer, G.A., D.J. Connor & G.M. Halloran, 1994b. Sensitivity of various phenological phases, final leaf number and phyllochron to vernalisation in contrasting wheat cultivars. In Proceedings of the 34th Annual General Meeting. The Australian Society of Plant Physiology, Inc., Brisbane.
Slafer, G.A., E.H. Satorre & F.H. Andrade, 1994c. Increases in grain yield in bread wheat from breeding and associated physiological changes. p. 1–68. In: G.A. Slafer (Ed). Genetic Improvement of Field Crops. Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, USA
Stapper, M. & R.A. Fischer, 1990. Genotype, sowing date and plant spacing influence on high-yielding irrigated wheat in southern New South Wales. I. Phasic development, canopy development, canopy growth and spike production. Aust. J. Agric. Res. 41: 997–1019.
Turner, N.C. & P.J. Kramer, 1980. Adaptation of plants to water and high temperature stress. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
Wiegand, C.L., A.H. Gerbermann & J.A. Cuellar, 1981. Development and yield of hard red winter wheats under semitropical conditions. Agron. J. 73: 29–37.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cone, A.E., Slafer, G.A. & Halloran, G.M. Effects of moisture stress on leaf appearance, tillering and other aspects of development in Triticum tauschii . Euphytica 86, 55–64 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00035939
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00035939