Some Effects of Soil Moisture Stress on the Growth of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em Thell.)¹

Abstract

Investigations were conducted in 1966 and 1967 at Tucson, Ariz., to study some effects of soil‐moisture stress, at three different stages of development (jointing, flowering, and dough) on the growth and grain yield of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em Thell.) planted in December. A critical period in the growth of wheat was the jointing stage for moisture. Stressing wheat for water at jointing resulted in fewer days from planting to flowering, shorter plants, more lodging, lower grain yield, lower grain volume‐weight, fewer heads per unit area, and fewer seeds per head. Soil‐moisture stress at any stage of growth decreased grain yield. When wheat was stressed at jointing, reduced grain yield resulted from fewer heads per unit area and fewer seeds per head. However, when moisture stress occurred at the flowering and dough stages, lower grain yields were caused by lighter seed‐weight. Stress at the flowering and dough stages also hastened maturity.

Optimum irrigation period for grain production in spring wheat

“…On the basis of the results obtained in both Experiments 1 and 2, it was concluded that the optimum irrigation period to increase the grain yield of this cultivar extended from the beginning of tillering to the heading stage, presumably due to the increase in the effect of irrigation on the number of effective spikes per unit area. This optimum irrigation period and the effect of irrigation in the optimum period on the yield components are consistent with the conclusion of the report by Salter and Goode (1967), and other researchers (Kusunoki et al 1960;Day and Intalap 1970;Musick and Dusek 1980;Singh 1981;Hooker et al 1983).…”

The Inheritance of Yield and Yield Components of Five Wheat Hybrid Populations Under Drought Conditions

“…Moisture stress at different stages of plant development resulted in the greatest reduction in grain-volume weight (Day and Intlap 1970). The wheat plants growing under water stress Table 2 that the heritability estimates for 1000-grain weight were high in order.…”

“…The height of the culms, size of the leaves, the distance between the veins and the stomata openings are all affected when they are developing under limited water supplies. When wheat plants are stressed for water at vegetative and flowering stages, shorter plants are obtained, as a result of low moisture absorption, lower soil nutrient uptake, reduced cell size and reduced photosynthesis (Day and Intlap 1970;Sheikh et al 2000). Heritability estimates computed for plant height in present study are in accordance with the findings of Fedin (1976) who reported high heritability estimates for this character.…”

“…Wheat plants stressed for water at different stages of growth matured earlier than the plants under normal conditions. It is evident that earlier maturity of wheat may be caused by soil moisture deficit during seed development (Day and Intlap 1970).…”

“…Low spikelet number is essentially linked to the decreased number of flower produced. Reduced number of grains per spike, grain weight and yield (Day and Intlap 1970;Hang and Miller 1983;Cooper et al 1994;Foulkes et al 2001;Foulkes et al 2002;Tretowan et al 2002;Foulkes et al 2004). Considerable work done on drought related characters of wheat have been reported by Campbell and Read (1968), Fischer and Tuener (1978), Kissana et al (1982), and Hang and Miller (1983).…”