Understanding and predicting small-grain cereal development is becoming increasingly important in enhancing management practices. Recent efforts to improve phenology submodels in crop simulations have focused on incorporating developmental responses to water stress and interpreting and understanding thermal time. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate data from three experiments to (a) determine the qualitative and quantitative response of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) to water stress and (b) ascertain where in space to measure temperature, to provide information required to improve phenological submodels. The first experiment tested the phenological responses of 12 winter wheat cultivars to water stress for two seasons at two sites. The second experiment tested the timing of water stress on spring barley phenological responses for 2 years. In a third experiment, soil near the shoot apex of field-grown spring wheat was heated to 3°C above ambient soil temperature for three planting dates in each of 2 years, to test whether it is better to use soil or air temperature in calculating thermal time. The general response of wheat and barley to water stress was to reach growth stages earlier (i.e. to hasten development). The most significant response was for the grain filling period. Water stress had little effect on jointing and flag leaf complete/booting growth stages. Thermal time to jointing was highly variable across locations. However, thermal time to subsequent growth stages was very consistent both within and across locations. The winter wheat cultivars tested followed this general response across site-years, but inconsistencies were found, suggesting a complicated genotype by environment (G×E) interaction that makes improving phenology submodels for all cultivars difficult. The G×E interaction was most prominent for anthesis (A) and maturity (M) growth stages. Results of heating the soil at the shoot apex depth were completely unexpected: heating the soil did not speed spring wheat phenological development. These results, and others cited, suggest caution in allocating effort and resources to measuring or estimating soil temperature rather than relying on readily available air temperature as a means of universally improving phenology submodels. These results help quantify the response of wheat to water stress and thermal time for improving crop simulation models and management.

Differences in development among wheat cultivars are not only restricted to photoperiod and vernalization responses. When both requirements are fully satisfied differences may still arise due to earliness per se. It is not clear at present to what extent this trait is ‘intrinsically’ expressed (a constitutive trait) independently of the environmental conditions so that it might be selected under any thermal condition or if it may be altered to the extent of showing a crossover interaction with temperature in which the ranking of wheat genotypes may be altered. The present study assessed the influence of temperature on the intrinsic earliness for lines of diploid wheat characterized for their differences in a major gene for intrinsic earliness, but also possibly differing in their genetic background for other factors controlling this polygenic trait. To do so the lines were grown individually in two temperature regimes (16 and 23°C) under long days having previously been fully vernalized. Multiple comparisons analyses were carried out among lines of the same allelic group for the Eps-Am1 gene. Results indicated that within each group there were lines that did not differ in their earliness per se, others differed but without exhibiting any line×temperature interaction and finally different types of interaction were shown, including cases where the ranking of lines was altered depending on the growing temperature. It is thus possible that the selection of a genotype based on its earliness per se in an environment might not represent the same performance in another location where temperature varied significantly.

Extending the duration of the late reproductive phase in wheat has been proposed as a possible avenue to improve spike fertility. There is a positive correlation between the number of fertile florets and the duration of the stem elongation phase when this phase is varied by extended photoperiod. Photoperiod treatments imposed during the vegetative period also influence the duration of stem elongation. The present study analysed the effect of long photoperiod (19 h) of different duration (10, 12, 14, 18 or 22 d) imposed before the onset of stem elongation on floret fertility in wheat. It was found that the length of the stem elongation phase was modified by earlier ‘historic’ photoperiod treatments imposed during previous phases. However, neither the number of fertile florets per spike nor the spikelet fertility was affected significantly by these historic treatments. The results of the study therefore showed that an increased duration of the late reproductive phase was ineffective in increasing the number of fertile florets, unless the length of that phase was directly altered by current photoperiod.

The present study was designed to analyse the effect of the length of exposure to a long photoperiod imposed c. 3 weeks after sowing in spring wheat (cv. UQ189) and barley (cv. Arapiles) to (i) establish whether the response to the number of cycles of exposure is quantitative or qualitative, (ii) determine the existence of a commitment to particular stages well before the stage has been observable, and (iii) study the interrelationships between the effects on final leaf number and phyllochron when the stimulus is provided several days after seedling emergence. Both wheat and barley seemed to respond quantitatively to the number of long-day cycles they were exposed to. However, wheat showed a requirement of approximately 4 long-day cycles to be able to produce a significant response in time to heading. The barley cultivar used in the study was responsive to the minimum length of exposure. The response to extended photoperiod cycles during the stem elongation phase was due to the ‘memory’ photoperiod effects being related, in the case of wheat, to the fact that the pre-terminal spikelet appearance phase saturated its photoperiod response well before that stage was reached. Therefore, the commitment to the terminal spikelet appearance in wheat may be reached well before this stage could be recognized.

As the response in duration to heading exceeded that of the final leaf number, and the stem elongation phase responded to memory effects of photoperiod, the phyllochron of both cereals was responsive to the treatments accelerating the average phyllochron when exposed to longer periods of long days. The response in average phyllochron was due to a switch from bi-linear to linear models of leaf number v. time when the conditions were increasingly inductive, with the phyllochron of the initial (6–8) leaves being similar for all treatments (within each species), and from then on increased.

Finnish rye (Secale cereale L.) cultivars are extremely tolerant of freezing and are fairly resistant to low-temperature fungal infection. Finnish cultivars usually have long straw, are lodging-sensitive, low yielding and have low Hagberg falling number. Many central European rye cultivars have been bred to overcome these problems, but are less winter hardy and have lower yield stability under northern conditions. In the present study, the development and growth of Finnish and foreign rye cultivars were compared in the field and also under simulated average autumn hardening conditions in a growth chamber. Leaf elongation, but not tillering, of both Finnish and foreign rye cultivars ceased during the simulated hardening period in the growth chamber. At the end of the hardening period, both Finnish and foreign cultivars had reached equal dry weights and soluble sugar contents of crowns and leaves. It was concluded that in a typical Finnish autumn, the foreign and domestic cultivars responded similarly when development and hardening were monitored. Thus, the risks related to overwintering are likely to be emphasized under adverse conditions either in the autumn or in the spring. In the field, a German hybrid cultivar performed better than a Finnish population cultivar under favourable growing conditions, but when stresses such as drought occurred, it lost its superiority. When low seeding rates were used, the Finnish cultivar compensated through tillering more efficiently than the German one for the reduced number of main shoots. However, the yield potential of the German cultivar was, in general, higher irrespective of seeding rate. This was due to a higher photosynthesis rate, larger harvest index and grain size.

The origin and significance of an indent on laminae of wheat is unknown. The constancy, position and emergence of a leaf indent was recorded on a range of winter wheat cultivars sown on two dates in 1998/99 and three dates in 1999/2000. The time when the indent developed was also examined in 1999/2000.

The indent appeared to be caused by tissue in the region of the ligule on the previous leaf swelling as the ligule formed. The synchrony between a ligule on one leaf and an indent on the next generally lasted until the ligule appeared from within the previous leaf sheath. The date of plant emergence influenced the pattern of tip to indent length throughout the life of the plant and different varieties also showed different patterns. There was strong correlation between the length of a leaf sheath and the length of the next (younger) lamina from the ligule to the indent.

Plant characters that determine stem and root lodging were measured on 15 winter wheat cultivars at three UK sites between 2000 and 2002. A model of lodging was used to estimate stem failure wind speeds (resistance to stem lodging) and anchorage failure wind speeds (resistance to root lodging). The degree and type of natural lodging was also recorded in the plots and this correlated well with the stem and anchorage failure wind speeds. Only a weak correlation (R2=0·33) was observed between the stem and anchorage failure wind speeds for the 15 cultivars. This can be explained by the absence of genetic correlation between the plant characters that determine the stem and anchorage strength. There was a significant interaction between type of lodging (stem or root) and cultivar for failure wind speed (P<0·001). This showed that the difference between the resistances for root and stem lodging was not the same for all cultivars. Separate classifications for the stem and root lodging resistance of cultivars are developed that would allow the most appropriate crop management to reduce the risk of both types of lodging. Significant differences were found between cultivars for all lodging-related plant characters (P<0·05). These resulted in the cultivar range of the anchorage failure moment to be 110% of the overall mean. Stem failure moment, shoot and plant base bending moments had ranges of 37–49% of their overall means. Breeders should select for wide, deep root plates and wide stems with a high stem wall failure yield stress for the greatest improvement in lodging resistance.

Compared with growth at 20/15°C (day/night), exposure of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) plants to moderately high temperature (30/25°C) significantly decreased grain weight through shortening the duration of grain filling, combined with small (or no) positive increases in the rate of grain filling. Several mathematical models of grain filling were assessed for their suitability as means of analysing these effects of temperature. The ordinary logistic model was found to be the most appropriate model and was used for the analysis of grain filling responses in four cultivars differing in their responses. Genotypic variation in response to temperature was observed for both rate and duration of grain filling, but the variation for the duration of grain filling among cultivars was small at the higher temperature. Significant correlation was found between single grain weight with the rate, but not with the duration, of grain filling at high temperature, which indicated an important role for synthetic processes involved in grain filling in the temperature sensitivity of wheat cultivars. As they are independent traits, both rate and duration are required selection criteria for the improvement of heat tolerance. Responses of one attribute estimated from the logistic model, the inflection point of the course of grain filling, may give insight into a temperature response that is distinguishable from that associated with the duration of grain filling. The inflection point appears to be worth including as a criterion in selecting for high temperature tolerance in wheat.

In high productivity zones of the Indo–Gangetic Plain Region (IGPR) of India, the rice–wheat cropping system (RWCS) is exhibiting a decline in factor productivity, low N use-efficiency and deterioration in soil health. Inclusion of legumes in RWCS is advocated as one of the promising agro-techniques to sustain productivity. A field experiment was conducted during 1996/97 and 1997/98 on sandy loam (Typic Ustrochrept) soil of Modipuram, India (29°4′N, 77°46′E, 237 m above sea level) to explore the possibilities of inclusion of cowpea as a break crop in RWCS. The effect of rice or cowpea was measured on the yield, fertilizer N requirement and N use-efficiency in wheat, and also on the soil organic carbon and available N content. The yields of wheat following cowpea were significantly (P<0·05) greater by 19–20%, compared with those following rice. In a cowpea–wheat rotation economic optimum dose of fertilizer N for wheat was smaller than that in a rice–wheat rotation due to increased N availability, better growing environment and greater N use-efficiency (measured as agronomic efficiency, apparent recovery and partial factor productivity) in the former case. On termination of the experiment, soil organic carbon and available N content increased over initial content with increasing rates of fertilizer N under both rotations, but the magnitude of increase was greater in treatments where cowpea preceded wheat.

Eighteen S1 lines of maize (Zea mays L.) derived from a low nitrogen tolerant pool and two inbred lines were evaluated for agronomic performance under moderate N conditions in the southern Guinea savannah of Nigeria. Generally, the breeding lines differed in yield, growth, vertical root-pulling resistance, N-uptake and N-use efficiency. Breeding lines with high vertical root-pulling resistance took up more N and utilized it more efficiently. They also showed better agronomic performance and recorded higher yields. Principal component and cluster analyses classified the breeding lines into six groups. The results of principal components analyses (PCA) suggest that the most important variables for the classification of the S1 lines were grain yield, plant height, total dry matter during the grain-filling period and at maturity, N-accumulation, N-uptake and N-use efficiency. Other important traits were days to silking, anthesis-silking interval, ears per plant, harvest index and vertical root-pulling resistance. Two groups containing a total of 14 S1 lines that had higher agronomic performance than others are recommended for further evaluation under severe N stress to ascertain their tolerance of low N stress before recombination to form a new population for the next cycle of selection.

The present paper reports on three sets of experiments exploring the persistence of seeds of oilseed rape (Brassica napus). The first, where known numbers of seeds were buried in September 1991 in two field experiments, demonstrated substantial initial losses of seeds, such that only 0·2 and 3·8% of seeds were still present after 4 months. In these experiments, which were not disturbed by mechanical cultivation, there was little evidence of further decline over the following 13 months. In the second of the two experiments, seeds were then left undisturbed for a further 136 months. A mean of 1·8% of seeds were still present after this period, providing further confirmation of the lack of decline in seed numbers in these undisturbed conditions. In the second pair of experiments, known numbers of seeds of three rape cultivars were broadcast onto plots and then either ploughed into the soil immediately after the start of the experiments, or were exposed to weekly shallow tine cultivation followed by ploughing after 4 weeks. The former created a larger seedbank than the latter. The experiments were then ploughed, annually (Expt 1) or at less frequent intervals (Expt 2); appreciable numbers of seeds survived for 65 months in both. Calculations based on exponential decline curves indicated that 95% seed loss would take 15–39 months, depending on the site, cultivar and initial post-harvest stubble treatment. The third part of the paper is based on more detailed studies of persistence of seeds of six cultivars in Petri dishes and buried in 25 cm pots. This work confirmed that cultivars differed in their persistence, as Apex was confirmed as highly persistent, whereas Rebel was short-lived. There were inconsistencies in the response of cultivar Synergy between the Petri-dish and pot experiment, which need further study. This experiment also reinforced the conclusion of the initial field experiments that little seed loss occurs in the absence of cultivations. Appreciable numbers of rape seeds will persist up to 4 years, in normal cropping conditions and in the absence of cultivation one experiment has confirmed persistence for over 11 years.

Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) is often subject to transient waterlogging during winter under dryland conditions and summer when flood-irrigated. Despite this, little is known about the physiological responses of perennial ryegrass genotypes to waterlogging. In a pot experiment, four perennial ryegrass genotypes with contrasting root growth characteristics were subjected to waterlogging for 0, 3, 7, 14, 21 or 28 days. The masses of roots and shoots of the genotype Aurora6 were not significantly (P>0·05) reduced by waterlogging, throughout the experiment. All other genotypes exhibited reductions in root and shoot biomass between 14 and 21 days after waterlogging was imposed. The masses of laminae and roots of susceptible genotypes were reduced by up to 70% after 28 days of waterlogging. Aurora6 was also able to maintain photosynthesis for longer into the waterlogging period. However, after 28 days of waterlogging, photosynthesis of all genotypes was reduced by 30–50%. The waterlogging tolerance of Aurora6 was not due to its relatively poor root growth, as its progeny (2178), which also had poor root growth under control conditions, was susceptible to waterlogging. These findings show that there is variation in physiological processes and herbage yield of perennial ryegrass under waterlogged conditions. The implications of these findings for the genetic improvement of waterlogging tolerance of perennial ryegrass are discussed.