Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T00:29:59.021Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Development of ability to germinate and of longevity in air-dry storage in wheat seed crops subjected to rain shelter or simulated supplementary rainfall

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2016

Gajender Yadav
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Earley Gate, PO Box 237, Reading RG6 6AR, UK
Richard H. Ellis*
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Earley Gate, PO Box 237, Reading RG6 6AR, UK
*
*Correspondence Email: [email protected]

Abstract

Climate change will alter rainfall patterns. The effect of rainfall during seed development and maturation on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seed quality (ability to germinate normally; air-dry longevity in hermetic storage at 40°C with c. 15% moisture content) was investigated in field experiments (2011, 2012) by providing rain shelter or simulating additional rainfall. High ability to germinate was detected from mid seed filling until after harvest maturity. Subsequent longevity was more sensitive to stage of development. It increased progressively, reaching maximum values during maturation drying at 53–56 days after anthesis (DAA), 5–11 (2011) or 8–14 (2012) days beyond mass maturity; maximal values were maintained thereafter in 2011; longevity declined with further delay to harvest in 2012. Post-anthesis protection from rain had no major effect: in later harvests longevity was slightly greater than the control in each year, but in 2011 wetting treatments were also superior to the control. Wetting ears at all stages of development reduced longevity immediately, but considerable recovery in subsequent longevity occurred when seeds re-dried in planta for several days. The greatest damage to longevity from ear wetting occurred with treatments at about 56 DAA, with poorest recovery at 70 DAA (i.e. around harvest maturity) in absolute terms but at 56–70 DAA relative to gross damage. Hence, seed quality in a strongly dormant wheat variety was resilient to rain. Net damage was greatest from rain late in maturation. The phase of seed quality improvement in planta was dynamic with deterioration also occurring then, but with net improvement overall.

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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

Argerich, C.A., Bradford, K.J. and Tarquis, A.M. (1989) The effects of priming and aging on resistance to deterioration of tomato seeds. Journal of Experimental Botany 40, 593598.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bewley, J.D. and Black, M. (1994) Seeds: Physiology, development and germination (2nd edition). New York, Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buitink, J. and Leprince, O. (2004) Glass formation in plant anhydrobiotes: survival in the dry state. Cryobiology 48, 215228.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crowe, J.H., Crowe, L.M. and Chapman, D. (1984) Preservation of membranes in anhydrobiotic organisms: the role of trehalose. Science 223, 701703.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dasgupta, J., Bewley, J.D. and Yeung, E.C. (1982) Desiccation-tolerant and desiccation-intolerant stages during the development and germination of Phaseolus vulgaris seeds. Journal of Experimental Botany 33, 10451057.Google Scholar
Demir, I. and Ellis, R.H. (1992a) Development of pepper (Capsicum annuum) seed quality. Annals of Applied Biology 121, 385399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Demir, I. and Ellis, R.H. (1992b) Changes in seed quality during seed development and maturation in tomato. Seed Science Research 2, 8187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R.H. and Pieta-Filho, C. (1992) The development of seed quality in spring and winter cultivars of barley and wheat. Seed Science Research 2, 915.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R.H. and Roberts, E.H. (1980) Improved equations for the prediction of seed longevity. Annals of Botany 45, 1330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R.H. and Roberts, E.H. (1981) The quantification of ageing and survival in orthodox seeds. Seed Science and Technology 9, 373409.Google Scholar
Ellis, R.H. and Yadav, G. (2016) Effect of simulated rainfall during wheat seed development and maturation on subsequent seed longevity is reversible. Seed Science Research 26, 6776.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R.H., Hong, T.D. and Roberts, E.H. (1987) Comparison of cumulative germination and rate of germination of dormant and aged barley seed lots at different constant temperatures. Seed Science and Technology 15, 717728.Google Scholar
Ellis, R.H., Hong, T.D. and Jackson, M.T. (1993) Seed production environment, time of harvest and the potential longevity of seeds of three cultivars of rice (Oryza sativa L.). Annals of Botany 72, 583590.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenner, M. (1991) The effects of the parent environment on seed germinability. Seed Science Research 1, 7584.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flintham, J.E. (2000) Different genetic components control coat-imposed and embryo-imposed dormancy in wheat. Seed Science Research 10, 4350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galau, G.A., Hughes, D.W. and Dure, L. III (1986) Abscisic acid induction of cloned late embryogenesis-abundant (lea) mRNAs. Plant Molecular Biology 7, 155170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Georghiou, K., Thanos, C.A. and Passam, H.C. (1987) Osmoconditioning as a means of counteracting the ageing of pepper seeds during high-temperature storage. Annals of Botany 60, 279285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gooding, M.J., Uppal, R.K., Addisu, M., Harris, K.D., Uauy, C., Simmonds, J.R. and Murdoch, A.J. (2012) Reduced height alleles (Rht) and Hagberg falling number of wheat. Journal of Cereal Science 55, 305311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gusta, L.V., Johnson, E.N., Nesbitt, N.T. and Kirkland, K.J. (2004) Effect of seeding date on canola seed quality and seed vigour. Canadian Journal of Plant Science 84, 463471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hampton, J.G., Boelt, B., Rolston, M.P. and Chastain, T.G. (2013) Effects of elevated CO2 and temperature on seed quality. Journal of Agricultural Science 151, 154162.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . (2014) Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, Pachauri, R.K.; Meyer, L.A. (Eds)]. Geneva, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.Google Scholar
International Seed Testing Association . (2011) International rules for seed testing. Edition 2011. Switzerland, International Seed Testing Association.Google Scholar
Klein Tank, A.M.G., Wijngaard, J.B., Können, G.P., Böhm, R., Demarée, G., Gocheva, A., Mileta, M., Pashiardis, S., Hejkrlik, L., Kern-Hansen, C., Heino, R., Bessemoulin, P., Müller-Westermeier, G., Tzanakou, M., Szalai, S., Pálsdóttir, T., Fitzgerald, D., Rubin, S., Capaldo, M., Maugeri, M., Leitass, A., Bukantis, A., Aberfeld, R., Van Engelen, A.F.V., Forland, E., Mietus, M., Coelho, F., Mares, C., Razuvaev, V., Nieplova, E., Cegnar, T., López, J.A., Dahlström, B., Moberg, A., Kirchhofer, W., Ceylan, A., Pachaljuk, O., Alexander, L.V. and Petrovic, P. (2002) Daily dataset of 20th-century surface air temperature and precipitation series for the European Climate Assessment. International Journal of Climatology 22, 14411453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landau, S., Mitchell, R.A.C., Barnett, V., Colls, J.J., Craigon, J. and Payne, R.W. (2000) A parsimonious, multiple-regression model of wheat yield response to environment. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 101, 151166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leopold, A.C. (1990) Coping with desiccation. pp. 5786 in Alscher, R.G.; Cumming, J.R. (Eds) Stress responses in plants: Adaptation and acclimation mechanisms. New York, Wiley-Liss.Google Scholar
MacKay, D.B. (1972) The measurement of viability. pp. 172208 in Roberts, E.H. (Ed.) Viability of seeds. London, Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, B., Armstrong, C., Black, M. and Chapman, J. (1980) Physiological aspects of sprouting and spoilage in developing Triticum aestivum L. (wheat) grains. pp. 339356 in Hebblethwaite, P.D. (Ed.) Seed production. London, Butterworths.Google Scholar
Pieta-Filho, C. and Ellis, R.H. (1991) The development of seed quality in spring barley in four environments. I. Germination and longevity. Seed Science Research 1, 163177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Probert, R.J., Bogh, S.V., Smith, A.J. and Wechsberg, G.E. (1991) The effects of priming on seed longevity in Ranunculus sceleratus L. Seed Science Research 1, 243249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Righetti, K., Vu, J.L., Pelletier, S., Vu, B.L., Glaab, E., Lalanne, D., Pasha, A., Patel, R.V., Provart, N.J., Verdier, J., Leprince, O. and Buitink, J. (2015) Inference of longevity-related genes from a robust coexpression network of seed maturation identifies regulators linking seed storability to biotic defense-related pathways. Plant Cell 27, 26922708.Google ScholarPubMed
Sanhewe, A.J., Ellis, R.H., Hong, T.D., Wheeler, T.R., Batts, G.R., Hadley, P. and Morison, J. (1996) The effect of temperature and CO2 on seed quality development in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Journal of Experimental Botany 47, 631637.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Semenov, M.A., Stratonovitch, P., Alghabari, F. and Gooding, M.J. (2014) Adapting wheat in Europe for climate change. Journal of Cereal Science 59, 245256.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sinniah, U.R., Ellis, R.H. and John, P. (1998) Irrigation and seed quality development in rapid-cycling Brassica: soluble carbohydrates and heat-stable proteins. Annals of Botany 82, 647655.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, G.P. and Gooding, M.J. (1999) Models of wheat grain quality considering climate, cultivar and nitrogen effects. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 94, 159170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tarquis, A.M. and Bradford, K.J. (1992) Prehydration and priming treatments that advance germination also increase the rate of deterioration of lettuce seeds. Journal of Experimental Botany 43, 307317.Google Scholar
Villiers, T.A. and Edgecumbe, D.J. (1975) On the cause of seed deterioration in dry storage. Seed Science and Technology 3, 6174.Google Scholar
Walters, C. (2015) Orthodoxy, recalcitrance and in-between: describing variation in seed storage characteristics using threshold responses to water loss. Planta 242, 397406.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yadav, G. and Ellis, R.H. (2016) Effects of rain shelter or simulated rain during grain filling and maturation on subsequent wheat grain quality in the UK. Journal of Agricultural Science (in press). doi: 10.1017/S0021859616000411.Google Scholar