Abstract
Wheat is one of the main cereal crops for ensuring food supply. Thus, increasing grain yield is a major target for plant breeders, where insights into wheat productivity can be gained by studying the activity of the components of photosynthetic apparatus. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the agronomical performance of three winter wheat varieties and test photosynthetic efficiency over two different locations. Chlorophyll fluorescence was used to evaluate the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II (PSII) (TR0/ABS) and performance index on absorption basis (PIabs) of flag leaves and glumes of heads at the flowering stage until the mid-senescence stage. The grain yield of all varieties on average was significantly higher at Osijek compared to Tovarnik. Variety Tika Taka exhibited the highest yield reduction (27.1%) at Tovarnik compared to Osijek, followed by El Nino (20.5%) and Vulkan (18.7%), respectively. A higher amount of precipitation in June at Tovarnik provoked higher Fusarium head blight disease intensity, which could be seen as the bleaching of plant heads at the plots and resulted in an earlier decrease in photosynthetic activity. Therefore, earlier senescence and contracted grain fill duration could occur.
Highlights
Grain growth and senescence of plants are influenced by many factors during the vegetative period, including climatic conditions and varietal types [1,2]
The analysis of variance (ANOVA) demonstrated significant effects (p < 0.001) of location on the grain yield and test weight of three winter wheat varieties, while 1000 kernel weight significantly differed between varieties (Table 1)
It can be assumed that results from the current study showed an earlier decrease in TR0/ABS and performance index on absorption basis (PIabs) in the plant heads, as well as an earlier decrease in PIabs in the flag leaves at Tovarnik compared to Osijek, most probably due to Fusarium head blight (FHB) disease stress at Tovarnik
Summary
Grain growth and senescence of plants are influenced by many factors during the vegetative period, including climatic conditions and varietal types [1,2]. One way to increase wheat yields is by improving photosynthetic efficiency. It was reported [6] that the productivity of agricultural plants is directly associated with their photosynthetic activity, which is of high importance for agronomy as the most likely route toward enhanced biomass production [7]. Ear photosynthesis makes a significant contribution to the grain yield of bread wheat, from 13% to 33% in the absence of stress [10]. It was concluded that under stress conditions, wheat heads have a higher contribution to grain yield [12]. According to previous research [13], photosynthesis contribution in wheat heads to grain yield was 20%
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