Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-04T19:01:25.470Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tiller development and yield of standard and semidwarf spring wheat varieties as affected by nitrogen fertilizer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

J. F. Power  and
J. Alessi
J. F. Power
Affiliation:
Northern Great Plains Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Mandan, N.D., U.S.A., 58554
J. Alessi
Affiliation:
Northern Great Plains Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Mandan, N.D., U.S.A., 58554
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

This research was conducted to determine the effects of applying N-fertilizer to standard and semidwarf spring wheat varieties on the components of grain yield, and especially on the ability of tillers to develop and produce ears under semiarid conditions. For two growing seasons at Mandan, North Dakota, tillers were identified and tagged according to the leaf axil from which they originated. The survival and development of these tillers, identified as M, T1, T2, and T3 for main stem and tillers from axils of first, second and third true leaves respectively, were observed and measured from emergence to maturity. N-fertilizer was applied at 0, 50 and 270 kg N/ha annually, representing deficient, adequate and excessive N supply.

N-fertilizer application increased grain yield of both varieties, with the increase between 50 and 270 kg N/ha being significant for the standard variety only. Most of this response to N resulted from an increase in the number of ears/ha, arising from reduced mortality of tillers, particularly T2 and T3 tillers during the latter part of the season when water was limited. For a given variety, grain production by M and by T1 tillers was seldom affected by N treatment. Although data were analysed by several means, all results indicate that improved N nutrition enables the later-developing tillers to survive and produce ears more competitively. Final grain yield was closely correlated with N content of a given tiller at the tillering stage, and to dry weight of individual tillers at both tillering and heading. Order of tiller had no appreciable effect on N content of grain. The proportion of final grain yield originating from M decreased from about 60% without N to about 36% for 270 kg N/ha, primarily because of increased survival and production from T2 and T3 tillers following the application of N-fertilizer.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 90 , Issue 1 , February 1978 , pp. 97 - 108
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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

Aspinall, D. (1961). The control of tillering in the barley plant. Australian Journal of Biology 14, 493–505.Google Scholar
Bremner, J. M. (1965). Inorganic forms of nitrogen. Methods of Soil Analysis, part 2 (ed. Black, C. A.), pp. 1179–237. Madison, Wisconsin: American Society of Agronomy.Google Scholar
Bremner, P. M. (1969). Growth and yield of three varieties of wheat, with particular reference to the influence of unproductive tillers. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 72, 281–7.Google Scholar
Cannell, R. Q. (1969). The tillering pattern of barley varieties. I. Production, survival and contribution to yield by component tillers. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 72, 405–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Felippe, G. M. & Dale, J. E. (1972). The uptake of 14CO2 by developing first leaves of barley and partition of the labelled assimilates. Annals of Botany 36, 411–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ishag, H. M. & Taha, M. B. (1974). Production and survival of tillers of wheat and their contribution to yield. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 83, 117–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirby, E. J. M. & Faris, D. G. (1972). The effect of plant density on tiller growth and morphology in barley. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 78, 281–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laude, H. M., Ridley, J. R. & Suneson, C. A. (1967). Tiller senescence and grain development in barley. Crop Science 7, 231–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, C. & Wardlaw, I. F. (1973). A comparative study of the distribution and speed of movement of 14C assimilates and foliar-applied 32P-labelled phosphate in wheat. Australian Journal of Biological Science 26, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNeal, F. H., Berg, M. A., Brown, P. L. & McGuire, C. F. (1971). Productivity and quality response of five spring wheat genotypes, Triticum aestivum L., to nitrogen fertilization. Agronomy Journal 63, 908–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
North Dakota Crop and Livestock Reporting Service. (1974). North Dakota wheat varieties – 1973. Agricultural Statistics Number 31, Fargo, North Dakota, 117 pp.Google Scholar
Quinlan, J. D. & Sagar, G. A. (1962). An autoradiographic study of the movement of 14C-labelled assimilates in the developing wheat plant. Weed Research 2, 264–73.Google Scholar
Rawson, H. M. (1971). Tillering patterns in wheat with special reference to the shoot at the coleoptile node. Australian Journal of Biological Science 24, 829–41.Google Scholar
Rawson, H. M. & Hofstra, G. (1969). Translocation and remobilization of 14C assimilated at different stages by each leaf of the wheat plant. Australian Journal of Biological Science 22, 321–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, R. C., Whitney, D. A. & Westfall, D. G. (1973). Plant analysis as an aid in fertilizing small grains. Soil Testing and Plant Analysis (eds. Walsh, L. M. and Beaton, J. D.), pp. 329–48. Madison, Wisconsin: Soil Science Society of America.Google Scholar