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Flowering biology of wheat, particularly in view of hybrid seed production — A review

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Summary

Floral and flowering biology of wheat are reviewed, particularly in relation to hybrid seed production, so with emphasis on the problems of cross-pollination and cross-fertilization. After a general description of the wheat floret and flowering process attention is paid to some special aspects, viz the opening of the glumes, the awness of the lemma, the size of the stigma, the duration of the stigma receptivity, the exsertion of the stigma, the number of pollen grains per anther and the anther dimensions, the elongation of the filament, the extrusion of the anthers, the dehiscence of the anthers, the pollen grain, the proportional extent of pollen shed inside the floret, the longevity of the pollen grain and the duration of flowering. It is concluded that many flowering biological phenomena are influenced by genotype as well as by meteorological conditions. In view of the selection of highly cross-fertilizing types the quantitative ratio of these two influences should be an important subject of research.

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  1. Institute of Plant Breeding (I.v.P.), Wageningen, the Netherlands

    A. Ph. De Vries

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De Vries, A.P. Flowering biology of wheat, particularly in view of hybrid seed production — A review. Euphytica 20, 152–170 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00056076

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