Disease-yield relationship in barley. II. Contribution of stored stem reserves to grain filling

The effect of disease in two cultivars of barley, sown at different times in two seasons, on the relative importance of stored carbohydrate reserves and current photosynthesis for grain filling was assessed. Three methods of measuring stem reserve contributions to grain filling are reviewed and compared. Disease reduced stem dry weight and the amount of stored carbohydrate in most situations. In contrast, the total amount of stored carbohydrates used for grain filling was often increased by disease. The magnitude of these effects varied with the method used for estimation, and was also different in the crops sown at different times and in different seasons. The estimates of stem reserve contributions to grain filling ranged up to a maximum of 50% in some cases. At least 10 t/ha of reserve material was retranslocated in the healthy 1984 crop studied using ¹⁴C pulse feeding, and up to 0.3 t/ha more was utilized in a diseased crop. The effect of disease on the storage and utilization of stem reserves depended on the time of epidemic development, its duration, and the yield potential of the crop. This suggests that crops could be characterized as those which are very sensitive to disease during grain filling, with low stem reserves or high yield potential, and those with lower sensitivity, with more stem reserves or lower yield potential. Such interacting factors could be incorporated in future plant and yield-loss mechanistic models.