Branched ears in wheat and yield determination

Abstract

Differentiation of the branched ear of a semidwarf mutant wheat is described for plants grown under irrigated field conditions, and compared with cultivars bearing simple ears. With a very high spikelet number per ear (more than SO), and few grains per spikelet (a maximum of three), the branched ear offers a radically different concept for yield production. Yields per unit area of the current branched material were not as high as for Kalyan Sona, India's premier variety, but did exceed those for Late Mexico 120. Better yields could be expected if the random sterility of spikelets within the branched ear, first apparent early in spikelet differentiation, were reduced. However, individual fertile ears filled up to 128 grains weighing 4.8 g in the better plants.