Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T23:53:39.592Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A comparison of the root and shoot growth of winter barley and winter wheat, and the effect of an early application of chlormequat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

P. L. Bragg ,
P. Rubino ,
F. K. G. Henderson ,
W. J. Fielding  and
R. Q. Cannell
P. L. Bragg
Affiliation:
Agricultural and Food Research Council Letcombe Laboratory, Wantage, Oxon, OX12 9JT
P. Rubino
Affiliation:
Agricultural and Food Research Council Letcombe Laboratory, Wantage, Oxon, OX12 9JT
F. K. G. Henderson
Affiliation:
Agricultural and Food Research Council Letcombe Laboratory, Wantage, Oxon, OX12 9JT
W. J. Fielding
Affiliation:
Agricultural and Food Research Council Letcombe Laboratory, Wantage, Oxon, OX12 9JT
R. Q. Cannell
Affiliation:
Agricultural and Food Research Council Letcombe Laboratory, Wantage, Oxon, OX12 9JT
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

In a field experiment where winter wheat and winter barley were sown on the same date, the patterns of root growth of the two species were similar, with a few roots reaching a depth of at least 120 cm. Roots senesced sooner in barley, in association with earlier maturity of the shoots and grain. The number of shoots and leaf area index of the barley were greater than for the wheat, but rates of dry-matter production until anthesis of the barley were similar in both species. The grain yield of wheat was about 10% heavier than for barley. Where chlormequat had been applied in early December at the 3- to 4-leaf stage, when shoot apices of both species were still vegetative, root density of the winter wheat in the following March and April was slightly greater than for untreated plants, but the difference disappeared later. For winter barley there was no effect of chlormequat on root growth until July when root length tended to be greater at depth after the chlormequat treatment. The chlormequat treatment significantly shortened stem length, but did not significantly affect the number of shoots, crop dry weight or grain yield of either species.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 103 , Issue 2 , October 1984 , pp. 257 - 264
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anderson-Taylor, G. & Marshall, C. (1983). Root-tiller interrelationships in spring barley (Hordeum distichum (L.) Lam.). Annals of Botany 51, 47–58.Google Scholar
Birecka, H. (1966). Effect of (2-chloroethyl)-trimethylammonium chloride (CCC) on photosynthesis and photosynthate distribution in oats and wheat after heading. Bulletin de l' Académie Polonaise des Sciences (Classe 2: Séries des sciences biologiques). Varsovie.Google Scholar
Bragg, P. L., Govi, G. & Cannell, R. Q. (1983). A comparison of methods, including angled and vertical minirhizotrons, of studying root growth and distribution in a spring oat crop. Plant and Soil 73, 435–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cahoon, G. A. & Morton, E. S. (1961). An apparatus for the quantitative separation of plant roots from soil. Proceedings of the American Society of Horticultural Science 78, 593–596.Google Scholar
Cannell, R. Q., Belford, R. K., Gales, K., Webster, C. P. & Thomson, R. J. (1984). Effects of waterlogging and drought on winter wheat and winter barley grown on clay and a sandy loam soil. I. Crop growth and yield. Plant and Soil 76 (in the Press).Google Scholar
Cannell, R. Q., Ellis, F. B., Christian, D. G., Graham, J. P. & Douglas, J. T. (1980). The growth of winter cereals after direct drilling and ploughing on non-calcareous clay soils. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 94, 354–359.Google Scholar
Drew, M. C. & Saker, L. R. (1980). Assessment of rapid method, using soil cores, for estimating the amount and distribution of crop roots in the field. Plant and Soil 55, 297–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, F. B. & Barnes, B. T. (1971). A mechanical method for obtaining soil cores. Plant and Soil 35, 209–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, F. B. & Barnes, B. T. (1980). Growth and development of winter cereals grown after different tillage methods including direct drilling. Plant and Soil 55, 283–295.Google Scholar
Ellis, F. B., Christian, D. G., Bragg, P. L., Henderson, F. K. G., Prew, R. D. & Cannell, R. Q. (1984). A study of mole drainage with simplified cultivation for autumn-sown crops on a clay soil. 3. Agronomy, root and shoot growth of winter wheat, 1978–80. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 102, 583–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, P. J., McGowan, M., Biscoe, P. V. & Hunter, B. (1978). Water relations of winter wheat. 1. Growth of the root system. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 91, 91–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanus, H. (1967). The influence of CCC on the root system of wheat. Zeitschrift für Acker- und Pflanzenbau 125, 40–46; seen in Field Crop Abstracts 20, 288, abstract no. 2214.Google Scholar
Humphries, E. C. (1968). CCC and cereals. Field Crop Abstracts 21, 91–99.Google Scholar
Humphries, E. C., Welbank, P. J. & Williams, E. D. (1967). Interaction of CCC and water deficit on wheat yield. Nature 215, 782.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klepper, B., Belford, R. K. & Rickman, R. W. (1984). Root and shoot development in winter wheat. Agronomy Journal 76, 117–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koranteng, G. O. & Matthews, S. (1982). Modifications of the development of spring barley by early applications of CCC and GA3 and the subsequent effect on yield components and yield. In Chemical Manipulation of Plant Qrowth and Development (ed. McLaren, J. S.), pp. 343–357. London: Butterworths.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ba'B, March. (1971). Measurement of length in random arrangements of lines. Journal of Applied Ecology 8, 265–267.Google Scholar
Matthews, S. & Thomson, W. J. (1983). New roles for growth regulators in cereal production. In The Yield of Cereals (ed. Wright, D. W.), pp. 25–31. London: Royal Agricultural Society of England.Google Scholar
Newman, E. I. (1966). A method of estimating the total length of root in a sample. Journal of Applied Ecology 3, 139–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Primost, E. (1965). The effect of CCC on the growth of germinating wheat seedlings. Zeitschrift für Ackerund Pflanzenbau 121, 300–314.Google Scholar
Tennant, D. (1975). A test of a modified line intersect method of estimating root length. Journal of Ecology 63, 95–101.Google Scholar
Welbank, P. J., Gibb, M. J., Taylor, P. J. & Williams, E. D. (1974). Root growth of cereal crops. Rothamsted Experimental Station Report for 1973, Part 2, pp. 26–66.Google Scholar
Williams, R. H., Turner, J. A. & Sampson, M. J. (1982). New approaches to increasing the yield capacity of cereals. In Chemical Manipulation of Plant Growth and Development (ed. McLaren, J. S.), pp. 399–414. London: Butterworths.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zadoks, J. C., Chang, T. T. & Konzak, C. F. (1974). A decimal code for the growth stages of cereals. Weed Research 14, 415–421.Google Scholar