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Effect of water deficit during vegetative growth periods on post-anthesis photosynthetic capacity and grain yield in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

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Abstract

Determining the effect of water deficit during vegetative growth periods on grain yield will provide reasonable strategy for water-saving management of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Pot experiment was conducted using winter wheat cultivar (Yangmai16) to investigate the effects of water deficit during vegetative periods on post-anthesis photosynthetic capacity and the relationship with grain yield formation during the growing season of 2013–2014. Water deficit consisted of moderate (leaf water potential of −1.20 to −1.40 MPa) and severe (leaf water potential of −1.80 to −2.20 MPa) levels during tillering and jointing growth stages, respectively. Moderate water deficit during tillering significantly increased grain yield through an enhanced yield capacity per stem and moderate water deficit during jointing resulted in similar grain yields as compared to control, while severe water deficit during both periods significantly reduced grain yield due to strong reduction in number of spikes as compared to control. Moderate or severe water deficit during tillering had no effect on flag leaf area but reduced it significantly when it occurred during jointing. Water deficit treatments during jointing and tillering increased net photosynthetic rate (P n) of flag leaves, the treatment during jointing being the most stimulatory. The maximum photochemical efficiency of Photosystem II, actual photochemical efficiency, the maximum carboxylation rate and photosynthetic electron transport rate increased in ways similar to P n in response to water deficit but non-photochemical quenching decreased. We conclude that improved photosynthetic capacity by moderate water deficit during vegetative growth period highly contributes to grain yield, especially during tillering period, while grain yield decreased by the limitation of leaf area and spikes under severe water deficit.

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Abbreviations

C i :

Intercellular CO2 concentration

DAA:

Days after anthesis

ETR:

Electron transport rate

F v /F m :

Maximum quantum yield of PSII photochemistry

J :

Maximum rate of photosynthetic electron transport

NPQ:

Non-photochemical quenching

P n :

Net photosynthetic rate

PSII:

Photosystem II

Φ PSII :

Steady state photochemical efficiency of PSII

RLCs:

Rapid light curves

SLW:

Specific leaf weight

V cmax :

Maximum carboxylation rate of Rubisco

ψ w :

Water potential

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge generous financial support from a Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (Grant No. BK20140705) and the China Agriculture Research System (CARS-03).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology, Ecology and Production Management, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, Jiangsu Province, China

    Yakun Cui, Zhongwei Tian, Xu Zhang, Abid Muhammad, Huimin Han, Dong Jiang, Weixing Cao & Tingbo Dai

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  1. Yakun Cui
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  2. Zhongwei Tian
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  3. Xu Zhang
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  4. Abid Muhammad
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  5. Huimin Han
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  6. Dong Jiang
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  7. Weixing Cao
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  8. Tingbo Dai
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Correspondence to Tingbo Dai.

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Communicated by U. Feller.

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Cui, Y., Tian, Z., Zhang, X. et al. Effect of water deficit during vegetative growth periods on post-anthesis photosynthetic capacity and grain yield in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Acta Physiol Plant 37, 196 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-015-1944-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-015-1944-2

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