Low temperature effects on growth and physiology specific to a "grass-clump" dwarf wheat hybrid

Abstract

The growth habit of "grass-clump" dwarf wheat plants can be affected by extremely short 16° treatments if given repeatedly. To localize the earliest growth responses in plants of one such hybrid (Mql × KF 1), the temperature sensitivity of plants of different ages, and the earliest temperature-induced changes in growth, development, and shoot physiology were investigated and compared with the responses of normal wheat plants.Mql × KF 1 plants growing at 26° responded to progressively shorter 16° treatments as they aged and plants exposed to 16° after 10 days growth at 26° were unable to recover from low temperature treatments of 3–5 days duration. Although shoot growth (as dry weight) of Mql × KF 1 stopped abruptly after 7 days at 16°, root growth (as dry weight) continued for at least 15 days. The rates of CO2 and water vapor exchange in individual leaves responded to low temperature similarly in both the dwarf and normal plants and did not markedly decrease until after 4 days at 16°. The most rapid low temperature response specific to Mql × KF 1 plants was cessation in primary tiller development immediately after the beginning of 16° exposure. It is proposed that the primary 16° effect is on the shoot meristematic region and that other changes in growth and physiology result from the lack of meristematic activity in the young growing region.