Leaf photosynthesis and associations with grain yield, biomass and nitrogen-use efficiency in landraces, synthetic-derived lines and cultivars in wheat

Future genetic progress in wheat grain yield will depend on increasing above-ground biomass and this must be achieved without commensurate increases in N fertilizer inputs to minimise environmental impacts. Our objective was to quantify variation in grain yield, above-ground biomass and N-use effici...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gaju, Oorbessy, deSilva, Jayalath G., Carvalho, P., Hawkesford, Malcolm J., Griffiths, Simon, Greenland, Andrew, Foulkes, M.J.
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46416/
_version_ 1848797321340387328
author Gaju, Oorbessy
deSilva, Jayalath G.
Carvalho, P.
Hawkesford, Malcolm J.
Griffiths, Simon
Greenland, Andrew
Foulkes, M.J.
author_facet Gaju, Oorbessy
deSilva, Jayalath G.
Carvalho, P.
Hawkesford, Malcolm J.
Griffiths, Simon
Greenland, Andrew
Foulkes, M.J.
author_sort Gaju, Oorbessy
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Future genetic progress in wheat grain yield will depend on increasing above-ground biomass and this must be achieved without commensurate increases in N fertilizer inputs to minimise environmental impacts. Our objective was to quantify variation in grain yield, above-ground biomass and N-use efficiency (NUE) and associated traits in a panel of diverse hexaploid wheat germplasm comprising: (i) landraces from the AE Watkins collection, (ii) synthetic-derived hexaploid lines in a cv. Paragon spring wheat background and (iii) UK modern cultivars including cv. Paragon under low N and high N conditions. A field experiment was carried out in two seasons examining 15 genotypes (five landraces, five synthetic-derived (SD) hexaploid lines and five UK modern cultivars) under low N and high N conditions at Nottingham University farm, UK. Machine-harvested grain yield, above-ground biomass and NUE were measured. Physiological traits were assessed including flag-leaf light-saturated photosynthetic rate (Amax) and relative chlorophyll content (SPAD) under HN conditions; and flag-leaf senescence duration and rate and Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI) under LN and HN conditions. Under HN conditions, the modern cultivars overall produced higher grain yield than the SD lines (+9.7%) and the landraces (+60.4%); and the modern cultivars and SD lines also produced higher biomass than the landraces (30.3% and 28.4%, respectively). Under LN conditions, reduction in grain yield and biomass compared to HN conditions was least for the landraces (−1% and −8.6%, respectively), intermediate for the SD lines (−7.4 and −10.2%, respectively) and highest for the modern cultivars (−9.3 and −24.6%, respectively). As a result, the SD lines had higher biomass (+17%) than the modern cultivars under LN conditions. Under HN conditions the synthetic derivatives (23.8 μmol m−2 s−1) and modern cultivars (241.1 μmol m−2 s−1) had higher pre-anthesis Amax than the landraces (19.7 μmol m−2 s−1) (P < 0.001). Pre-anthesis Amax was strongly positively linearly associated with above-ground biomass (R2 = 0.63, P < 0.001) and grain yield (R2 = 0.75, P < 0.001) amongst the 15 genotypes. Flag-leaf Amax was also positively linearly associated with flag-leaf relative chlorophyll content at anthesis (R2 = 0.74; P < 0.001). Comparing the SD lines to the recurrent parent Paragon, under HN conditions one line (SD 22) had higher pre-anthesis flag-leaf Amax than Paragon (P < 0.05). Under LN conditions one line (SD 24, +27%) had higher yield than Paragon (P < 0.05) and two lines (SD 24 and SD 38, +32% and +31%, respectively) had more biomass than Paragon (P < 0.05). Our results indicated that introgressing traits from synthetic-derived wheat and landraces into UK modern wheat germplasm offers scope to raise above-ground biomass and grain yield in moderate-to-low N availability environments.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T20:02:01Z
format Article
id nottingham-46416
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T20:02:01Z
publishDate 2016
publisher Elsevier
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-464162020-05-04T20:01:58Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46416/ Leaf photosynthesis and associations with grain yield, biomass and nitrogen-use efficiency in landraces, synthetic-derived lines and cultivars in wheat Gaju, Oorbessy deSilva, Jayalath G. Carvalho, P. Hawkesford, Malcolm J. Griffiths, Simon Greenland, Andrew Foulkes, M.J. Future genetic progress in wheat grain yield will depend on increasing above-ground biomass and this must be achieved without commensurate increases in N fertilizer inputs to minimise environmental impacts. Our objective was to quantify variation in grain yield, above-ground biomass and N-use efficiency (NUE) and associated traits in a panel of diverse hexaploid wheat germplasm comprising: (i) landraces from the AE Watkins collection, (ii) synthetic-derived hexaploid lines in a cv. Paragon spring wheat background and (iii) UK modern cultivars including cv. Paragon under low N and high N conditions. A field experiment was carried out in two seasons examining 15 genotypes (five landraces, five synthetic-derived (SD) hexaploid lines and five UK modern cultivars) under low N and high N conditions at Nottingham University farm, UK. Machine-harvested grain yield, above-ground biomass and NUE were measured. Physiological traits were assessed including flag-leaf light-saturated photosynthetic rate (Amax) and relative chlorophyll content (SPAD) under HN conditions; and flag-leaf senescence duration and rate and Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI) under LN and HN conditions. Under HN conditions, the modern cultivars overall produced higher grain yield than the SD lines (+9.7%) and the landraces (+60.4%); and the modern cultivars and SD lines also produced higher biomass than the landraces (30.3% and 28.4%, respectively). Under LN conditions, reduction in grain yield and biomass compared to HN conditions was least for the landraces (−1% and −8.6%, respectively), intermediate for the SD lines (−7.4 and −10.2%, respectively) and highest for the modern cultivars (−9.3 and −24.6%, respectively). As a result, the SD lines had higher biomass (+17%) than the modern cultivars under LN conditions. Under HN conditions the synthetic derivatives (23.8 μmol m−2 s−1) and modern cultivars (241.1 μmol m−2 s−1) had higher pre-anthesis Amax than the landraces (19.7 μmol m−2 s−1) (P < 0.001). Pre-anthesis Amax was strongly positively linearly associated with above-ground biomass (R2 = 0.63, P < 0.001) and grain yield (R2 = 0.75, P < 0.001) amongst the 15 genotypes. Flag-leaf Amax was also positively linearly associated with flag-leaf relative chlorophyll content at anthesis (R2 = 0.74; P < 0.001). Comparing the SD lines to the recurrent parent Paragon, under HN conditions one line (SD 22) had higher pre-anthesis flag-leaf Amax than Paragon (P < 0.05). Under LN conditions one line (SD 24, +27%) had higher yield than Paragon (P < 0.05) and two lines (SD 24 and SD 38, +32% and +31%, respectively) had more biomass than Paragon (P < 0.05). Our results indicated that introgressing traits from synthetic-derived wheat and landraces into UK modern wheat germplasm offers scope to raise above-ground biomass and grain yield in moderate-to-low N availability environments. Elsevier 2016-07 Article PeerReviewed Gaju, Oorbessy, deSilva, Jayalath G., Carvalho, P., Hawkesford, Malcolm J., Griffiths, Simon, Greenland, Andrew and Foulkes, M.J. (2016) Leaf photosynthesis and associations with grain yield, biomass and nitrogen-use efficiency in landraces, synthetic-derived lines and cultivars in wheat. Field Crops Research, 193 . pp. 1-15. ISSN 1872-6852 Wheat Photosynthesis Nitrogen-use efficiency Landraces Synthetic-derived wheats http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378429016301022 doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2016.04.018 doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2016.04.018
spellingShingle Wheat
Photosynthesis
Nitrogen-use efficiency
Landraces
Synthetic-derived wheats
Gaju, Oorbessy
deSilva, Jayalath G.
Carvalho, P.
Hawkesford, Malcolm J.
Griffiths, Simon
Greenland, Andrew
Foulkes, M.J.
Leaf photosynthesis and associations with grain yield, biomass and nitrogen-use efficiency in landraces, synthetic-derived lines and cultivars in wheat
title Leaf photosynthesis and associations with grain yield, biomass and nitrogen-use efficiency in landraces, synthetic-derived lines and cultivars in wheat
title_full Leaf photosynthesis and associations with grain yield, biomass and nitrogen-use efficiency in landraces, synthetic-derived lines and cultivars in wheat
title_fullStr Leaf photosynthesis and associations with grain yield, biomass and nitrogen-use efficiency in landraces, synthetic-derived lines and cultivars in wheat
title_full_unstemmed Leaf photosynthesis and associations with grain yield, biomass and nitrogen-use efficiency in landraces, synthetic-derived lines and cultivars in wheat
title_short Leaf photosynthesis and associations with grain yield, biomass and nitrogen-use efficiency in landraces, synthetic-derived lines and cultivars in wheat
title_sort leaf photosynthesis and associations with grain yield, biomass and nitrogen-use efficiency in landraces, synthetic-derived lines and cultivars in wheat
topic Wheat
Photosynthesis
Nitrogen-use efficiency
Landraces
Synthetic-derived wheats
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46416/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46416/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46416/