The effects of soil moisture stress on the growth of barley. I. Vegetative development and grain yield

Abstract

The effects of soil moisture stress on tillering, stem elongation, and grain yield of barley (cv. Prior) have been studied by subjecting the plants to periods of stress at different stages of development. Soil moisture stress treatments consisted of repeated short cycles of stress, single short cycles (both in large pots), or single long cycles (in large lysimeters). The data collected support the contention that the organ which is growing most rapidly at the time of a stress is the one most affected. Grain numbers per ear were seriously affected by stress occurring prior to anthesis, an effect probably associated with the process of spikelet initiation and, later, with the formation of the gametes. Grain size, on the other hand, was reduced more by stress at anthesis and shortly after. Elongation of the internodes was reduced mostly by stress at or just before earing, and was less seriously affected by earlier or later stress. Tillering, although being suppressed during a drought cycle, was actually stimulated upon rewatering. The effect was greater the earlier the period of stress, and was probably related to nutrient uptake and distribution within the plant.

Physiological Significance of Internal Water Relations to Crop Yield

“…Such effects have been reported in most cereals, for example in barley (Aspinall, Nicholls, and May, 1964;Skazkinand Zavadskaya, 1957;Wells and Dubetz, 1966); in oats (Avena sativa L.) (van de Paauw, 1949;Novikov, 1952Novikov, , 1954Skazkin and Lukomskaya, 1962); in wheat (Chinoy, 1962;Single, 1964;Bingham, 1967) and in corn (Robins and Domingo, 1953;Denmead and Shaw, 1960;Volodarski and Zinevich, 1960).…”

Management of crop water under drought: a review

“…For cereals, early drought can seriously impair yield because yield components (number of tillers/spikes, spiklets per spike) are preformed during vegetative development stages (e.g. Aspinall et al 1964;Rawson and Macpherson 2000). Conservative water use combined with early stress might imply lower uptake during these stages, resulting in excessive reduction of yield components, low generative sink strength and thereby lower final yield.…”

Effects of drought stress on growth and yield of barley

“…Middle to late drought stress advanced leaf senescence, shortened the grain-filling period, and decreased grain yield and individual grain weight of barley [10,14,19,24]. Effects of drought stress at different growth stages of barley have been studied [2,3,25]. These studies indicated that drought stress was more sensitive during and just before spike emergence.…”