Abstract
Most of the carbohydrates used for grain growth in wheat are produced after anthesis (for reviews see Thorne, 1974; Austin and Jones, 1975; Evans et al., 1975). The amount of carbon assimilated during grain filling thus constitutes the ultimate upper limit to yield. It has been shown with some genotypes, however, that the amount of carbon assimilation after anthesis can be more than adequate to ensure that all grains are well filled (Fischer and Hille RisLambers, 1978; Aguilar-M and Hunt, 1984), and thus does not impose a limit to yield. Such a contradiction may reflect that fact that most wheat breeding programmes include good grain filling as an explicit objective of selection — a selection criterion that may only be satisfied when carbon assimilation substantially exceeds the demands of grain growth (Fischer et al., 1977). Thus, carbon assimilation during the grain-filling period may limit yield even though physiological analyses show that grain requirements for carbohydrates are less than the post-anthesis supply. Clarification of this point is essential for good deployment of effort in a wheat improvement programme and it would be aided by a comprehensive model of carbon assimilation during the grain-filling period.
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Hunt, L.A. (1985). Relationships between Photosynthesis, Transpiration and Nitrogen in the Flag and Penultimate Leaves of Wheat. In: Day, W., Atkin, R.K. (eds) Wheat Growth and Modelling. NATO ASI Science, vol 86. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-3665-3_14
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