Screening a Wheat Collection for Leaf Position at Different Stages of Growth

Abstract

AbstractA collection of hexaploid ‐wheat consisting of 1400 entries from 36 countries was screened for leaf position at four stages of growth over two years. At the shooting stage, more than 80 % of the entries showed the curved position of the flag and the second leaf, about 15 % the erect position, while the horizontal position did not occur. At the heading stage more than 10 % of the genotypes with curved and some with erect position assumed horizontal position. At the milk stage, half of the genotypes with the erect position in earlier stages of growth assumed horizontal and even pendulous position; the majority of genotypes had curved position of leaves. At the dough stage, only about 2 % of the genotypes maintained erect flag leaf position, while 45 % had curved and about 45 % pendulous position of leaves.When an erect leaf assumes horizontal position, the lamina is completely straight without any curving, which is different from genotypes classified as having horizontal position at heading and milk stage. The position of the second leaf, in general, followed the pattern of the flag leaf. Through the stages of growth the curved position was more stable than either erect or horizontal positions. Leaves were more erect and stable in position under conditions with lower rainfall and higher temperatures (1983) than in the rainy year with lower temperatures (1984). Most of the high‐yielding cultivars with short straw had a curved position, which is probably the consequence of unintended selection to fit a dense canopy.