Coleoptile tiller development is associated with fast early vigour in wheat

Summary

Faster canopy development in temperate cereals can result in more efficient utilization of wate, light and nutrients if these are in limited supply. It can also result in more competitive plants and less use of herbicides. The possible importance of the coleoptile tiller for increasing early vigour in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was determined for twelve F4 lines in two experiments. Each F4 line was chosen for variation in the presence and absence of a coleoptile tiller in plants in the previous generation; each F4 line was traced to a single F2 plant from a multiple convergent cross of sixteen parents. Eight plants of each of the F4 lines were grown in a single row in both experiments. Just after the coleoptile tiller appeared, plants within each line were classified into one of two groups; one group contained plants with large coleoptile tillers whereas the other group had either small coleoptile tillers or none at all. Leaf expansion rates were determined non-destructively at regular intervals, and plants were harvested to determine leaf and tiller characteristics when there were about five mainstem leaves. There was substantial variation in the leaf area of the coleoptile tiller both between groups and among lines. In both experiments plants with a large coleoptile tiller had 24–30% more leaf area and dry weight than plants selected with a small or absent coleoptile tiller up to the final harvest. Leaf expansion rates (increase in leaf area per day) were 25 to 35% greater in the large coleoptile tiller selections from the time tillers first appeared to the time of harvest, whereas the relative leaf expansion rate (increase in leaf area per unit of leaf area present per day) of the large selections was significantly greater than the small selections only at the time of appearance of the coleoptile tiller and just after. There was no evidence that the early appearance of a coleoptile tiller was associated with the largest seedlings or that it inhibited the growth of later tillers. It is concluded that selection for the appearance of a large coleoptile tiller should improve the early vigour of temperate cereals.