Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T05:33:37.616Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Physiological maturity in Aestivum wheat: visual determination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

V. P. Singh
Affiliation:
Department of Agronomy, Haryana Agricultural University, Hissar-125004, India
M. Singh
Affiliation:
Department of Agronomy, Haryana Agricultural University, Hissar-125004, India
M. S. Kairon
Affiliation:
Department of Agronomy, Haryana Agricultural University, Hissar-125004, India

Summary

Field experiments were conducted during the winter seasons of 1977–8 and 1978–9 at Agronomy Research Area of Haryana Agricultural University Farm, Hissar, to identify the visual plant characters that coincide with physiological maturity (PM) and 95% maximum grain dry weight (95% MGW) in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars. The dry-weight accumulation data from three cultivars (WH-157, HD-2009 and UP-270) differing in many agronomic characters were fitted to polynomial regression equations to calculate time of PM and 95% MGW. The mean number of days from anthesis to 95% MGW and from anthesis to PM ranged from 31 to 36 and 38 to 43, respectively, depending upon cultivar. The time of 95% MGW preceded PM by about 7 days. Of the nine visual plant characters recorded during the grain-filling period, complete loss of green colour from the glumes occurred close to PM. Complete loss of green colour from the flag leaf most consistently coincided with the time of 95% MGW. Complete loss of green colour from the flag leaf could therefore be used as an indicator of the commencement of rapid decrease in grain dry weight and the final stage of grainfilling which ends when the glumes have lost the whole of their green colour.

Type
Research Article
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

Eastin, J. D., Hultquist, J. H. & Sullivan, C. Y. (1973). Physiological maturity in grain sorghum. Crop Science 13, 175178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fussell, L. K. & Dwarte, D. M. (1980). Structural changes of the grain associated with black region formation in Pennisetum americanum. Journal of Experimental Botany 31, 645654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanft, J. M. & Wych, R. D. (1982). Visual indicators of physiological maturity of hard red winter wheat. Crop Science 22, 584588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, D. B., Peterson, M. L. & Geng, S. (1979). Association between grain filling rate and duration and yield components in rice. Crop Science 19, 641644.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, H. J., McKee, G. W. & Knievel, D. D. (1979). Determination of physiological maturity in oat. Agronomy Journal 71, 931935.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinthus, M. J. (1963). Comparison of dry matter accumulation and moisture content in the developing kernel of wheat and barley. Israel Journal of Agricultural Research 13, 117124.Google Scholar