Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:13:50.512Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of nitrogen fertilizer on growth and yield of semi-dwarf and tall varieties of winter wheat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

I. Pearman ,
S. M. Thomas  and
G. N. Thorne
I. Pearman
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts. AL5 2JQ
S. M. Thomas
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts. AL5 2JQ
G. N. Thorne
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts. AL5 2JQ
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Eight amounts of nitrogen ranging from 0 to 210 kg N/ha were applied to two tall and one semi-dwarf variety of winter wheat in the spring of 1975 and 1976. The tall varieties were Cappelle-Desprez and Maris Huntsman; the semi-dwarf variety was Maris Fundin in 1975 and Hobbit in 1976. Interactions between varieties and nitrogen were few and small compared with the main effects. All varieties produced their maximum grain yields with 180 kg N/ha. The yield of the semi-dwarf varieties, but not the others, decreased slightly with more nitrogen.

Cappelle-Desprez yielded less grain than the other varieties in both years. In 1975 the yields of Maris Fundin and Maris Huntsman were similar and in 1976 Hobbit yielded more than Maris Huntsman. The varieties had similar numbers of ears at maturity and similar patterns of tillering. The semi-dwarf varieties had most grains per spikelet, and hence grains per ear, and Cappelle-Desprez had least. The semi-dwarf varieties had the smallest grains. The semi-dwarf varieties had less straw than the other varieties and hence the largest ratios of grain to total above-ground dry weight. The decrease in dry weight of stem and leaves between anthesis and maturity was similar for all varieties. In 1975 the efficiency of the top two leaves plus top internode in producing grain was the same for all varieties, but in 1976 Hobbit was more efficient than the other two. There were some small differences between varieties in nutrient uptake that were not related to differences in growth. Maris Fundin tended to have a greater phosphorus and potassium content than the tall varieties. Hobbit contained slightly less nitrogen than the tall varieties at maturity, and had a smaller concentration of nitrogen in the grain.

Applying 210 kg N/ha doubled grain yield in 1975. Applying nitrogen resulted in a largeincrease in number of ears and a small increase in number of grains per ear due to the development of more fertile spikelets per ear. Nitrogen decreased dry weight per grain, especially of the semi-dwarf varieties. With extra nitrogen, straw dry weight at maturity, shoot dry weight atanthesis and leaf area were all increased relatively more than grain yield, and stems lost moredry weight between anthesis and maturity than without nitrogen. The year 1976 was exceptionallydry and nitrogen had only small effects in that it affected neither straw dry weight nor numberof ears but slightly increased grain yield by increasing the number of spikelets and number of grains per spikelet. It also increased leaf area proportionately to grain yield. In 1975 nitrogen increased evaporation of water from the crop before anthesis but decreased it after anthesis, even though it continued to increase the extraction of water from below 90 cm.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 91 , Issue 1 , August 1978 , pp. 31 - 45
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

Austin, R. B., Ford, M. A., Edrich, J. A. & Blackwell, R. D. (1977). The nitrogen economy of winter wheat. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 88, 159–167.Google Scholar
Austin, R. B. & Edrich, J. (1975). Effects of ear removal on photosynthesis, carbohydrate accumulation and on the distribution of 14C in wheat. Annals of Botany 39, 141–152.Google Scholar
Batey, T. (1976). Some effects of nitrogen fertiliser on winter wheat. Journal of the Science of Food & Agriculture 27, 287–297.Google Scholar
Batey, T. & Reynish, D. J. (1976). The influence of nitrogen fertiliser on grain quality in winter wheat. Journal of the Science of Food & Agriculture 27, 983–990.Google Scholar
Bayles, R., Evers, A. D. & Thorne, G. N. (1978). The relationship of grain shrivelling to the milling and baking quality of three winter wheat cultivars grown at different levels of nitrogen fertilizer. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 90, 445–446.Google Scholar
Bingham, J. (1971). Physiological objectives in breeding for grain yield in wheat. In The Way Ahead in Plant Breeding. (Proceedings of the 6th congress of Eucarpia, Cambridge, 29 June–2 July 1971) (ed. Lupton, F. G. H., Jenkins, G. and. Johnson, R.), pp. 15–29.Google Scholar
Bowerman, P. & Clare, R. W. (1976). Comparison of nitrogen rates and times of application for continuous winter wheat and wheat after beans. Experimental Husbandry 30, 42–54.Google Scholar
Clements, R. J., Cross, R. J. & Sanders, P. (1974). Effect of sowing rate on the growth and yield of standard and semi-dwarf wheat cultivars. New Zealand Journal of Experimental Agriculture 2, 139–144.Google Scholar
Donald, C. M. & Hamblin, J. (1976). The biological yield and harvest index of cereals as agronomic and plant breeding criteria. Advances in Agronomy 28, 361–405.Google Scholar
Drennan, D. H. S. (1970). Short wheats for Britain? Span 13, 105–107.Google Scholar
Eagle, D. J. (1968). Effect of nitrogen rates on grain size in winter wheat. Experimental Husbandry 17, 45–46.Google Scholar
Evans, L. T. & Rawson, H. M. (1970). Photosynthesis and respiration by the flag leaf and components of the ear during grain development in wheat. Australian Journal of Biological Sciences 23, 245–254.Google Scholar
Evans, L. T., Wardlaw, I. F. & Fischer, R. A. (1975). Wheat. In Crop Physiology, some Case Histories (ed. Evans, L. T.), pp. 101–149. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fischer, R. A., Aguilar, I. & Laing, D. R. (1977). Post-anthesis sink size in a high-yielding dwarf wheat: yield response to grain number. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 28, 165–175.Google Scholar
Fischer, R. A. & Kohn, G. D. (1966). The relationship of grain yield to vegetative growth and post-flowering leaf area in the wheat crop under conditions of limited soil moisture. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 17, 281–295.Google Scholar
Hurd, E. A. (1974). Phenotype and drought resistance in wheat. Agricultural Meteorology 14, 39–55.Google Scholar
King, R., Wardlaw, I. F. & Evans, L. T. (1967). Effect of assimilate utilisation on photosynthetic rate in wheat. Planta 77, 261–276.Google Scholar
Lupton, F. G. H. (1968). The analysis of grain yield of wheat in terms of photosynthetic ability and efficiency of translocation. Annals of Applied Biology 61, 109–119.Google Scholar
Lupton, F. G. H. (1972). Further experiments on photosynthesis and translocation in wheat. Annals of Applied Biology 71, 69–79.Google Scholar
Lupton, F. G. H. (1976). Nitrogen response of semidwarf winter wheats. Report of the Plant Breeding Institute, Cambridge for 1975, p. 60.Google Scholar
Lupton, F. G. H., Oliver, R. H., Ellis, F. G., Barnes, B. T., Howse, K. R., Welbank, P. J. & Taylor, P. J. (1974 a). Root and shoot growth of semi-dwarf and taller winter wheats. Annals of Applied Biology 77, 129–144.Google Scholar
Lupton, F. G. H., Oliver, R. H. & Ruckenbauer, P. (1974 b). An analysis of the factors determining yields in crosses between semi-dwarf and taller wheat varieties. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 82, 483–496.Google 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 fertiliser. Agronomy Journal 63, 908–910.Google Scholar
Makunga, O. H. D., Pearman, I., Thomas, S. M. & Thorne, G. N. (1978). Distribution of photosynthate produced before and after anthesis in tall and semidwarf winter wheat, as affected by nitrogen. Annals of Applied Biology 88, 429–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milbourn, G. M., Innes, P. & Holmes, W. (1963). The response to fertiliser treatments of winter wheat grown after leys. Journal of the British Grassland Society 18, 310–317.Google Scholar
Pearman, I. & Thomas, S. M. (1976). Response of three varieties of winter wheat to large amounts of nitrogen: photosynthesis and photorespiration. Rothamsted Experimental Station Report for 1975, part 1, pp. 35–36.Google Scholar
Pearman, I., Thomas, S. M. & Thorne, G. N. (1977). Effect of nitrogen fertiliser on growth and yield of spring wheat. Annals of Botany 41, 93–108.Google Scholar
Pearman, I., Thomas, S. M. & Thorne, G. N. (1978). Effects of nitrogen fertiliser on the distribution of photosynthate during grain growth of spring wheat. Annals of Botany 42, 91–99.Google Scholar
Pushman, F. M. & Bingham, J. (1976). The effects of a granular nitrogen fertilizer and a foliar spray of urea on the yield and break-making quality of ten winter wheats. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 87, 281–292.Google Scholar
Rawson, H. W., Gifford, R. M. & Bremner, P. M. (1976). Carbon dioxide exchange in relation to sink demand in wheat. Planta 132, 19–23.Google Scholar
Reitz, L. P. (1974). Breeding for more efficient water use – is it real or a mirage? Agricultural Meteorology 14, 3–11.Google Scholar
Rothamsted, (1973). Yields of the Field Experiments, 1972. pp. 282–285.Google Scholar
Rothamsted, (1977). Yields of the Field Experiments, 1976. pp. 251–253.Google Scholar
Singh, R., Singh, Y., Prihar, S. S. & Singh, P. (1975). Effect of N fertilisation on yield and water use efficiency of dryland winter wheat as affected by stored water and rainfall. Agronomy Journal 67, 599–603.Google Scholar
Syme, J. R. (1969). A comparison of semi-dwarf and standard height wheat varieties at two levels of water supply. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 9, 528–531.Google Scholar
Thorne, G. N. (1974). Physiology of grain yield. Rothamsted Experimental Station Report for 1973, part 2, pp. 5–25.Google Scholar
Thorne, G. N. & Blacklock, J. C. (1971). Effects of plant density and nitrogen fertiliser on growth and yield of short varieties of wheat derived from Norin 10. Annals of Applied Biology 68, 93–111.Google Scholar
Vogel, O. A., Allan, R. E. & Peterson, C. J. (1963). Plant and performance characteristics of semi-dwarf winter wheats producing most efficiently in Eastern Washington. Agronomy Journal 55, 397–398.Google Scholar
Walcott, J. J. & Laing, D. R. (1976). Some physiological aspects of growth and yield in wheat crops: a comparison of a semi-dwarf and a standard height cultivar. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 16, 578–587.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, D. J., Thorne, G. N. & French, S. A. W. (1963). Analysis of growth and yield of winter and spring wheats. Annals of Botany 27, 1–22.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
Widdowson, F. V. & Penny, A. (1973). Yields and N, P and K contents of the crops grown on the Rothamsted Reference experiments, 1956–70. Report of Rothamsted Experimental Station for 1972, part 2, pp. 111–130.Google Scholar
Widdowson, F. V., Penny, A. & Williams, R. J. B. (1967). Experiments comparing the effects on yields of potatoes of three methods of applying three amounts of NPK fertiliser and the residual effects on following winter wheat. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 69, 247–253.Google Scholar