Costs and benefits of awns.

Abstract

Awns, which are derived from floral structures in grasses, are known to be critically important for photosynthesis and transpiration. However, arguments about the costs and benefits of their growth and development for crop grain yield are still ongoing. In this issue of Journal of Experimental Botany (pages 2573–2586), Rebetzke et al. take the debate forward, showing that wheat awns are associated with specific grain traits in different environments. Globally, the most common colours for bird-dispersed fleshy fruits are red or black (Janson, 1983). Different colours appear at lower frequencies, and in these cases the fruit are mainly spread by other frugivores, suggesting that fruit colours are adaptive in attracting birds (Duan et al., 2014). Similarly, plant breeding has triggered the dispersal and performance of awns in many areas of cultivation. Adaptation has also resulted in the seeds of many wild grass species having large, barbed awns, which deter seed-eating animals and assist in seed dispersal; and in wild wheat species, such as wild emmer [Triticum dicoccoides (Korn. ex Asch. & Graebner) Schweinf.], the awns flex as humidity levels change, which can help bury the seeds (Elbaum et al., 2007; Evangelista et al., 2011; Mach, 2015). However, after thousands of years of human selection, our domesticated wheats (T. durum and T. aestivum) have shorter or non-existent awns to facilitate grain harvesting, handling and storage (Mach, 2015) (see also Box 1). Box 1. A spiky affair Awns represent an unusual floral expansion not seen in other major cereal crops, such as rice, maize or sorghum, but are a characteristic feature of barley (left) and wheat (right) spikes. Developmentally, awns are lemma-derived and photosynthetically ... Today, wheat is one of the most widely grown crops and an essential component of global food security – a substantial increase in yield is required to feed the increasing human population, which is predicted to rise to 9.74 billion by 2050 (World Population Prospects, 2015 Revision). Therefore, raising grain yield is still the main goal for wheat breeding, particularly as recent decades have seen a reduced rate of increase in wheat yields globally. Increasing assimilate partitioning into wheat’s grain-bearing structures, the spikes, is an important strategy for improving yield. The introduction of dwarfing Reduced height (Rht) genes greatly enhanced the partitioning of assimilates towards spikes (Rebetzke and Richards, 2000). However, current cultivars have already reached an optimum height, and alternative strategies need to be identified in order to achieve further yield increases. Awns can be considered an alternative target for the improvement of wheat grain yield through their known functions, including photosynthesis, carbohydrate storage and increased water-use efficiency (Weyhrich et al., 1995). Arguments about their putative role (costs or benefits) for grain yield are ongoing, although some functions have been validated. Considerable work in previous studies suggests that both positive and negative effects on wheat grain yield are possible with different growth conditions (Motzo and Giunta, 2002; Maydup et al., 2010). Use of assimilates allowing awn development seems to be the main negative factor. The research by Rebetzke et al. (2016) is particularly important in explaining the way in which awns affect grain yield. They found that awns are coupled with larger grain size and yield in less favourable environments but reduce grain number in more favourable environments. They also show that awns do not significantly affect the total number of spikelets and anthesis time, but instead markedly increase the number of sterile spikelets and grain size in some environments. The most significant differences from previous work include the study of variable genetic backgrounds, a large number of environments, and a considerable number of traits: (1) four spring wheat populations with a range of diverse genetic backgrounds were developed containing multiple Near-Isogenic Line (NIL) pairs with variation for the presence and absence of full awns; (2) four separate sets of experiments representing a total of 25 environments (23 in Australia and two in Mexico) were conducted depending on the germplasm and environments sampled; and (3) for comparisons a number of important agronomic traits were measured in multiple years and environments while some traits were related to spike morphology. Separate glasshouse studies were also undertaken.