Physiological factors determining yield in bread wheat. Effects of introducing dwarfism genes

Summary Improvements in bread wheat productivity have been related to changes in plant morphology and function associated with a large increase in the harvest index for a more or less constant biological yield. The appearance of short genotypes possessing dwarfism genes may modify markedly the objectives of breeding as the upper limits of the harvest index are approached. The aim of the investigations presented here was to identify some contrasts between short and tall genotypes in terms of the physiological characteristics associated with grain yield, so as to orientate more efficiently the selection of genotypes, with or without dwarfism genes, for productivity. Various parameters of flag leaf functioning (photosynthesis rate, chlorophyll fluorescence index, leaf area duration) were related to the biological and economic yields and the harvest index for two groups of genotypes that were differentiated by their height. For all genotypes, the relationships between the various traits and the grain yield were difficult to ascertain. For the tall genotypes without dwarfism genes, the classical relationships between grain yield, harvest index, flag leaf area duration and net photosynthesis rate were confirmed. Moreover, the rate of chlorophyll fluorescence decrease (Rfd) during the slow Kautsky kinetics phase, which is representative of the leaf photosynthesis at low light, was found to be an excellent marker of economic yield. Chlorophyll fluorescence decrease was closely related to grain yield and also with other factors that are known to be important in its expression (harvest index, flag leaf area duration). In very short genotypes, the biological yield and directly related factors (leaf area, plant height) were the main parameters associated with economic yield, since the harvest index had approached its upper limit. The selection of short genotypes must therefore maintain the biological yield through an increase in the size of the aerial organs to counterbalance the decrease in height.