Yield and Yield attributes of Durum Wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) as Affected by Boron Application

Abstract

Boron (B) deficiency causes grain set in bread wheat to fail (Rerkasem and Jamjod, 1997). Rarkasem et al. (1993) reported that B deficiency lowered the number of grains per spike and grain yield in wheat via suppression of the growth of flowering organs. In another study, Rerkasem et al. (1997) found that B deficiency clearly depressed seed yield, number of grains per ear, and grain set index of bread wheat, without any apparent effect on number of ears per m2, number of spikelets per ear, average size of the ear, and component florets per spikelet. Boron deficiency was considered to be the main reason for sterility in susceptible wheat genotypes since B application reduced sterility from 42.6 to 4.5 % (Subedi et al., 1997). Since B has important effects in pollen tube elongation, and on pollen grain germination and growth (Dickinson, 1978), the main effects of B deficiency are usually expressed during generative development rather than in vegetative plant parts (Rerkasem and Jamjod, 1997; Huang et al., 2000).