Yield and Its Components in Diploid, Tetraploid and Hexaploid Wheats in Diverse Environments

• Published in: Annals of botany Vol. 64; no. 6; pp. 635 - 642
• Main Authors: GUZY, M. R., EHDAIE, B., WAINES, J. G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Oxford University Press 01.12.1989; Academic Press
• Subjects: Aegilops; Aegilops tauschii; agronomic traits; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Biological and medical sciences; California; cultivars; Diploidy; environmental factors; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetics and breeding of economic plants; Genotypes; Grains; Hexaploidy; Plants; plasticity; Seed weight; Spikelets; Tetraploidy; Tillers; Triticum; Triticum aestivum; Triticum monococcum; Triticum turgidum; Varietal selection. Specialized plant breeding, plant breeding aims; Wheat; Yield components; Yield, quality, earliness, varia; California; Aegilops squarrosa; Monocotyledones; Ploidy; United States; Interspecific comparison; Environmental factor; Genotype; Biomass; California; North America; Cereal crop; Triticum; Seed yield; Gramineae; Morphology; America; Angiospermae; Spermatophyta; Yield; Geographical variation; Altitude
• DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a087888
• ISSN: 0305-7364

Fourteen diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid Triticum accessions, including wild genotypes and primitive and modern cultivars, were examined in four diverse southern California environments for yield component differences. Biomass and grain yield per plant were highest for the hexaploid group followed by diploid and tetraploid groups. Spike number was highest in the diploid group, followed by the hexaploid and tetraploid groups. Earliness and stable harvest index account for the yield superiority of the hexaploids over the diploids and tetraploids, especially in the inland environments subject to terminal water and heat stress. For most characters, the coastal environment was more favourable than the inland, followed by the high altitude environment. Plasticity over environments for spike number and seeds per spike was greatest in diploid accessions, but plasticity in seed weight was greatest in wild tetraploid and primitive diploid cultivars. The wild and primitive diploid wheats exhibited high biomass accumulation and a high number of spikelets.