In barley no studies have attempted to pinpoint the critical period for grain number determination, and it is frequently stated that the critical period is similar to that of wheat. However, there are important differences between the species and among barley genotypes (i.e. two- and six-rowed types) suggesting that this assumption requires testing. The objectives of this paper were (i) to determine the critical period for grain number determination in two- and six-rowed barleys, and (ii) to identify which yield components were more sensitive to changes in incident radiation during that period.
Two field experiments were conducted using two pairs of near isogenic lines differing only in the spike type. Shading was imposed at different periods throughout the crop cycle (from 60 days before heading to 15 days after) to reduce incident solar radiation approximately 70%.
The critical period for grain number determination tended to be slightly earlier in two- (ca. between 40 and 10 days before heading) than in six-rowed barleys (ca. between 30 days before heading until that stage). In terms of the external phenology, the beginning of the critical period for setting grains was 10 days after the beginning of stem elongation, and 10 days before flag leaf appearance in two- and six-rowed lines, respectively. Changes in the number of grains per unit area were correlated with crop growth rate during the critical period for yield determination. 相似文献
Over-watering cotton wastes a valuable and scarce resource; it can also lead to rank growth, nutrient leaching, and contaminated groundwater. Since under-watering can decrease yields, the question becomes one of finding the optimum application regime. An irrigation experiment was set up to apply water at six different application rates, ranging from 33% to 144% of normal, with hopes of identifying the regime that produces maximum yield. Two cultivars, Acala Maxxa and Acala PhytoGen-72 (Gossypium hirsutum L.), were planted on sandy soil and irrigated daily with a highly efficient subsurface drip irrigation system for four seasons. The results showed that on the average there was no significant difference in the yield of the two cultivars and there was no significant difference in the yield for the three wettest treatments. The driest of the three wettest treatments, treatment 4, was a critical point on the water production function curve. It represented the least amount of water applied that still produced essentially maximum yield, and it had the highest water use efficiency. This critical level of water application during mid-season was found to be, on the average, 95% of Class A pan evaporation; it corresponded to a total seasonal application of 654 mm of water. Any application less than this critical level decreased yields. Reducing the water application by 5% below the critical level caused about a 4.6% reduction in yield. The critical level produced a soil moisture level that remained nearly constant throughout the season. The final plant height was closely related to the depth of water applied, with the wettest treatment producing plant heights of 2.0 m, and the driest treatment producing plant heights of 0.6 m. At the extremes of the water application rates there were some small differences in the early-season growth rate of the plants, but the main cause of differences in final plant height was the date of cutout (cessation of main stem node production). The length of season for the driest treatment was about 4 weeks shorter than for the wettest treatment on both cultivars. Results showed that deficit irrigation of cotton on sandy soil can greatly reduce yield, and the practice should probably be avoided. 相似文献
The Brassica oilseed crops went through two major breeding bottlenecks during the introgression of genes for zero erucic acid and low glucosinolate content, respectively, which may lead to reduced genetic biodiversity of the crop. This study investigates the impact of these bottlenecks on the genetic diversity within and across European and Chinese winter B. rapa cultivars. We compared eight cultivars from Europe and China, representing three different seed qualities from three different breeding periods: (1) high erucic acid, high glucosinolates (++); (2) zero erucic acid, high glucosinolates(0+); (3) zero erucic acid, low glucosonolates (00, canola quality). Diversity was estimated on 32 plants per cultivar, with 16 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers covering each of the B. rapa linkage groups. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that genetic variations within cultivars, across cultivars and across regions (Europe and China) were significant, with about 60% of the total variation within cultivars. There was a slight, but non-significant loss in genetic diversity within cultivars when comparing the three breeding periods as indicated by effective number of alleles (2.39, 2.23, and 1.99 for breeding periods 1, 2, and 3, respectively), Shannon information index (0.93, 0.90, 0.75), and expected heterozygosity (0.51, 0.49, 0.42). By cluster analysis (UPGMA dendrogram) and principal coordinate analysis, Chinese and European cultivars were clearly divided into two distinct groups. In conclusion, quality improvement did not significantly reduce the genetic diversity of European and Chinese B. rapa cultivars. 相似文献