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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Physiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1509325

Mild drought at tillering stage promotes dry matter accumulation and increases grain weight in drip-irrigated spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Provisionally accepted
Yilin Ma Yilin Ma Jingyi Cai Jingyi Cai *Shuting Bie Shuting Bie *Ziqiang Che Ziqiang Che *Guiying Jiang Guiying Jiang *Jianguo Liu Jianguo Liu *
  • College of Agriculture, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In order to elucidate the physiological mechanism of post-flowering assimilate transport regulating the formation of yields in the arid region and to provide technological support for the further water-saving and high-yielding of the wheat region in Xinjiang, we conducted a study on the effects of different fertility periods and different degrees of drought and re-watering on the post-flowering dry matter accumulation and transport of spring wheat and the characteristics of grain filling. In two spring wheat growing seasons in 2023 and 2024, a split-zone design was used, with drought sensitive variety Xinchun 22 (XC22) and drought tolerant variety Xinchun 6 (XC6) as the main zones, and fully irrigated control during the reproductive period(CK, 75%~80% FC, FC represents field capacity), with mild drought at tillering stage (T1, 60%~65% FC), moderate drought at tillering stage (T2, 45%~50% FC), mild drought at jointing stage (J1, 60%~65% FC), and mild drought at jointing stage(J2, 45%~50% FC) as sub-zone. Results indicated that the dry matter accumulation of the above ground parts of wheat (stem sheath, leaf, and spike) and transfer rate and contribution rate of nutrient organ and the maximum filling rate (Vmax) and the mean filling rate (Vmean) increased significantly after re-watering in the T1 treatment, and decreased with the deepening of the degree of water stress. The 13 C isotope tracer results also showed that the T1 treatment increased the distribution rat of 13 C assimilates in the grain at maturity. Correlation and principal component analyses showed that grain weight was highly significantly and positively correlated with stem sheath, leaf, and spike dry matter accumulation, nutrient organ post-flowering transport amount, transport rate and contribution rate, the onset time and the termination time of the rapid growth period, Vmax, and Vmean, and stem sheath and spike dry matter accumulation had a direct effect on grain weight. While the two varieties performed differently among treatments, both exhibited optimal performance in the T1 treatment. In conclusion, mild drought at tillering stage (60%-65% FC) was the best model for water conservation and high yield of wheat under the conditions of this trial.

    Keywords: Spring wheat, drip irrigation, Assimilate transport, Grouting character, Drought and re-watering during fertility periods Abid, M., Tian, Z., Ata-Ul-Karim, S. T., Cui, Y., Liu, Y., Zahoor, R., et al. (2016b). Nitrogen nutrition

    Received: 10 Oct 2024; Accepted: 30 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ma, Cai, Bie, Che, Jiang and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Jingyi Cai, College of Agriculture, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Shuting Bie, College of Agriculture, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Ziqiang Che, College of Agriculture, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Guiying Jiang, College of Agriculture, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
    Jianguo Liu, College of Agriculture, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China

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