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Nitrogen fertiliser rate and post-anthesis waterlogging effects on carbohydrate and nitrogen dynamics in wheat

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Abstract

Waterlogging is predicted to increase in both magnitude and frequency along with global warming, and will become one of the most severe adversities for crop production in many regions. Nitrogen is considered to be an effective up-regulatory nutrient for crops grown under stress and non-stress conditions. In this study, we try to evaluate N fertiliser effects on contents of carbohydrate and N dynamics, dry matter accumulation in shoot, yield under post-anthesis waterlogging. Waterlogging after anthesis significantly reduced grain yield due to decrease in thousand-kernel-weight and in grain number per spike. High N fertiliser application aggravated grain yield loss due to post-anthesis waterlogging. These yield losses were related to the decreases in dry matter accumulation, redistribution of stored photosynthate to the grain, and the conversion capacity from carbohydrate to starch in grain. The decrease in dry matter accumulation could be attributed to the reduced activities of Pn (photosynthesis) and SPS (sucrose phosphate synthase) in the flag leaf, while the low capacity in starch synthesis could be explained by the reduced activities of sucrose synthase (SS) and soluble starch synthase (SSS) in grain. Total N uptake in shoot was also reduced, which could contribute to the losses in biomass and yield by waterlogging. The decrease in Pn was inconsistent with the increase in N content in the flag leaf at high N fertiliser application under post-anthesis waterlogging.

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Abbreviations

ADPGPPase:

ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase

DAA:

days after anthesis

GBSS:

starch granule-bound synthase

GPC:

grain protein content

HI:

harvest index

N:

nitrogen

Pn:

photosynthetic rate

SS:

sucrose synthase

SPS:

sucrose phosphate synthase

SSS:

soluble starch synthase

TKW:

thousand-kernel-weight

UDPGPPase:

UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase

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Acknowledgements

This study is funded by the projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30571093, 30671216, 30700483), the Innovation Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK2005419) and the Research Fund for Doctoral Program of Higher Education (20050307006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Crop Growth Regulation of Ministry of Agriculture/Key Laboratory of Information Agriculture of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Dong Jiang, Xuemei Fan, Tingbo Dai & Weixing Cao

  2. College of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University, No. 1 Weigang Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210095, China

    Weixing Cao

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  1. Dong Jiang
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  2. Xuemei Fan
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  3. Tingbo Dai
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  4. Weixing Cao
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Correspondence to Weixing Cao.

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Responsible Editor: Len Wade.

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Jiang, D., Fan, X., Dai, T. et al. Nitrogen fertiliser rate and post-anthesis waterlogging effects on carbohydrate and nitrogen dynamics in wheat. Plant Soil 304, 301–314 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-008-9556-x

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