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The utility of the Decimal Growth Stage (DGS) scoring system for cereals is reviewed. The DGS is the most widely-used scale in academic and commercial applications due to its comprehensive coverage of cereal developmental stages, the ease of use and definition provided, and adoption by official agencies. The DGS has demonstrable and established value in helping to optimise the timing of agronomic inputs, particularly with regards to plant growth regulators, herbicides, fungicides and soluble nitrogen fertilizers. Additionally the DGS is used to help parametise crop models, and also in understanding the response and adaptation of crops to the environment. The value of the DGS for increasing precision relies on it indicating, to some degree, the various stages in the development of the stem apex and spike. Coincidence of specific growth stage scores with the transition of the apical meristem from a vegetative to a reproductive state, and also with the period of meiosis, is unreliable. Nonetheless, in pot experiments it is shown that the broad period of booting (DGS 41-49) appears adequate for covering the duration when the vulnerability of meiosis to drought and heat stress is exposed. Similarly, the duration of anthesis (61-69) is particularly susceptible to abiotic stresses: initially from a fertility perspective, but increasingly from a mean grain weight perspective as flowering progresses to DGS 69 and then milk development. These associations with DGS can have value at the crop level of organisation: for interpreting environmental effects, and in crop modelling. However, genetic, biochemical, and physiological analysis to develop greater understanding of stress acclimation during the vegetative state, and tolerance at meiosis, does require more precision than DGS can provide. Similarly, individual floret analysis is needed to further understand the genetic basis of stress tolerance during anthesis.publishersversionpreprintPeer reviewe

Successive single day transfers of pot-grown wheat to high temperature (35/30°C day/night) replicated controlled environments, from the second node detectable to the milky-ripe growth stages, provides the strongest available evidence that the fertility of wheat can be highly vulnerable to heat stress during two discrete peak periods of susceptibility: early booting [decimal growth stage (GS) 41–45] and early anthesis (GS 61–65). A double Gaussian fitted simultaneously to grain number and weight data from two contrasting elite lines (Renesansa, listed in Serbia, Ppd-D1a, Rht8; Savannah, listed in UK, Ppd-D1b, Rht-D1b) identified peak periods of main stem susceptibility centered on 3 (s.e. = 0.82) and 18 (s.e. = 0.55) days (mean daily temperature = 14.3°C) pre-GS 65 for both cultivars. Severity of effect depended on genotype, growth stage and their interaction: grain set relative to that achieved at 20/15°C dropped below 80% for Savannah at booting and Renesansa at anthesis. Savannah was relatively tolerant to heat stress at anthesis. A further experiment including 62 lines of the mapping, doubled-haploid progeny of Renesansa × Savannah found tolerance at anthesis to be associated with Ppd-D1b, Rht-D1b, and a QTL from Renesansa on chromosome 2A. None of the relevant markers were associated with tolerance during booting. Rht8 was never associated with heat stress tolerance, a lack of effect confirmed in a further experiment where Rht8 was included in a comparison of near isogenic lines in a cv. Paragon background. Some compensatory increases in mean grain weight were observed, but only when stress was applied during booting and only where Ppd-D1a was absent.

In a recent study, antioxidant therapy at the time of renal transplantation in humans was associated with fewer rejection episodes and extended graft survival. A hypothesis generated by such studies and based on the response-to-injury model is that reducing the oxidative injury during transplantation may dampen certain cellular responses to injury that are important in triggering allograft rejection. To test whether ablation of oxidative injury would limit such responses, kidneys were transplanted between Wistar-Furth rats, with and without antioxidant 21-aminosteroid. 21-Aminosteroid was administered before kidney harvest and, again, before transplant reperfusion. The recipient's left kidneys, removed to accommodate the donor kidneys, were used as normal control. The removal of the right kidneys contralateral to the transplant were delayed to day 4 to provide interim renal support. The transplanted kidneys were harvested on day 7. Administration of 21-aminosteroid was associated with better graft function and reduced lipid peroxidation. Compared with the normal control kidneys, the kidneys transplanted with vehicle had higher cytokine mRNA levels (measured by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction) for interleukin 2, interleukin 6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and interferon-gamma. The levels for these cytokines were reduced in kidneys transplanted with 21-aminosteroid. An increase in inducible nitric oxide synthase mRNA in the transplanted kidney was inhibited by 21-aminosteroid, as were the increase in class I and II MHC antigens. The new finding, that a reduction in transplantation-related oxidative injury in a syngeneic model is accompanied by a reduction in the expression of cytokines, MHC antigens, and inducible nitric oxide synthase, provides partial support for the response-to-injury hypothesis in the setting of renal transplantation. The data also demonstrate for the first time the efficacy of 21-aminosteroid to reduce lipid peroxidation and renal injury in kidneys transplanted after cold preservation.

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