Modern elite winter wheat cultivars use two physiological pathways to achieve yield stability
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Identifying target traits for breeding stable, high-yielding winter wheat cultivars is made challenging by the intricate interplay of genotype, environment, and management practices. We hypothesized that yield stability could be achieved through multiple genotypic strategies and that agronomic management stimulating these strategies would enhance stability. To test this, three years of field experiments were conducted using eight high-yielding elite cultivars and three agronomic practices: (i) nitrogen levels (220 or 176 kg N ha-1), (ii) fertilizer application timing, and (iii) two sowing dates. Detailed field phenotyping of 130 agronomic, phenological, chemical, and physiological traits resulted in 40 557 measured or derived trait values. Correlation and multivariate analyses suggested that management practices promoting grain number increased yield stability, while nitrogen level influenced the importance of application time and sowing date. Interestingly, modern elite cultivars exhibit two distinct physiological strategies coupling different source capacity and sink demand strategies to achieve genotypic yield stability: (i) coupling high tiller and grain numbers with longer canopy stay-green and higher carbon reserves, and (ii) coupling high grain length with low tiller number and greater remobilization of pre-anthesis carbon reserves. The integration of multiple physiological pathways could therefore facilitate the identification of trait combinations for yield stability breeding.
Source: Journal of Experimental Botany
DOI: 10.1093/jxb/eraf191
Language: English
Topic: Genetics and Plant Breeding
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,341
OpenAlex ID: W4411111920