Differences in characteristics of earliness partitioned by developmental stage between wheat and barley cultivars.

Abstract

Wheat cultivars generally mature later one or two weeks than barley cultivars, in the central part of Japan. It is expected that wheat cultivars as early as barley may contribute to the stabilization of wheat cultivation since they can be harvested before the rainy season as well as the promotion of double cropping. The present investigation aims to know the difference in mechanisms of earliness between wheat and barley cultivars. Two hundred ninety six wheat cultivars (or lines) and 65 barley cultivars were grown in the central part of Japan to compare the duration of the four developmental periods from sowing to initiation of stem elongation (1 st d.p.), initiation of stem elongation to heading (2 nd d.p.), heading to flowering (3 rd d.p.) and flowering to maturity (4th d.p.). The wheat cultivars used as materials were same as that of the previous report(YOSHIDA et al. 1985).