Wheat

The study of plant adaptation to drought stress as well as the assessment of plant restoration ability after water deficiency is one of the actual problems of the modern science. Gobustan and Tale 38 bread wheat genotypes exposed to long-term soil drought were rewatered. Leaf samples were taken after 3 and 7-day rehydration and dynamics of H 2 O 2 accumulation was studied histochemically, relative water content (RWC), amounts of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2), ascorbic acid (AsA) and reduced glutathione (GSH) were measured and the recovery process was assessed in watered and drought variants, comparatively. Water loss in leaves of the tolerant genotype was found to be less compared with the sensitive genotype. The amount of reduced glutathione increased in both genotypes under drought and after rehydration this amount decreased in the tolerant genotype, while staying at the high level in the sensitive genotype. The amount of ascorbic acid did not change significantly in the Gobustan variety, whereas it changed substantially in the Tale-38 variety. The obtained data confirm that antioxidant defense system functions quiet efficiently under drought. These genotypes differently responding to water deficiency protect their ability of partly restoration after rehydration.

In the 21 st century, climate changes and global warming have become critical concerns, in that they can affect many of the natural phenomena. It is reported that aeroallergen sensitization is influenced by changes in climate. Bet v 1 is an important birch pollen respiratory allergen and a prototype for the PR-10 protein family, which has been reported in wheat pollen. Two wheat genotypes were exposed to water deficit at the meiosis stage of anthers to investigate the effect of drought stress changes on wheat pollen Bet v 1 expression. Then, mature anthers of wheat underwent molecular experiments in the anthesis stage. Expression analysis was carried out, using Real-time PCR, on the Bet v 1 gene that encodes allergens. The results indicated the induction of Bet v 1 in both genotypes in the water deficit condition. The genotype which had been improved by breeders for tolerating drought more than the other genotype revealed more increase in Bet v 1 expression. Given the great spread of wheat, especially improved genotypes worldwide as a pivotal and crop plant and regarding wheat pollen effect on provoking allergy in humans, Bet v 1 can cause new distress in human society. Therefore, this finding is considered as a new verification of concerns of climate change on human health, which emphasizes the importance of efforts to alleviate climate changes to avoid the risk of public health.

To investigate the response of inbred lines of M82 and Babax wheat series to drought stress, which induced by mannitol, on growth stage of plant, a factorial experiment with a completely randomized design with 2 replicates in normal and drought stress condition on 169 in board lines, was performed. Ln this research the mannitol with -8 Mpa osmotic pressure was used and the morphological properties such as stem and root length,wet weight of stem and root,dried weight of stem and root, proportion of stem length to root length, wet weight of stem to root, seedling length, proportion of dried weight of root to stem, sum of root and stem wet weigh and sum of dried
weight of stem and root were studied and statically analyzed. The results indicated that drought stress had significant effect on investigated properties. Results of cluster analysis showed that in drought condition,lines with numbers 11,9,8,1 and 19 in comparison to others were greater in stem length, dried weight of stem, length of seedling and sum of dried weight of root and stem. In drought condition, some of lines individually were great in some studied parameters, such as lines with number 113 and 109 in root length, 8th line in stem and seedling
length, number 9 in stem wet weight. The stem parameter can be used as the best property to select the drought tolerance lines.

A new bread wheat variety HI 1633 (Pusa Vani) has been released and notified by the Central Sub-Committee on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties for Agricultural Crops, Government of India for commercial cultivation under irrigated and late sown conditions of Peninsular Zone of India. HI 1633 has average yield of 41.7 q ha-1 and showed superiority over checks. The potential yield of HI 1633 is 65.8 q ha-1 and found resistant to black and brown rusts. HI 1633 found to have excellent chapati quality (7.63), biscuit quality (7.08), high grainhardness (>80.0), test weight (80.3 kg hl-1) and sedimentation value (45.0 ml). It has high protein content (12.4 %) and presence of 5+10 subunit of Glu-D1 reflecting higher gluten strength. It has good amount of micronutrients viz., iron (41.6 ppm) and zinc (41.1 ppm) content making it rich in nutritional qualities. This variety has been recommended for irrigated late sown conditions and would contribute to increasing wheat production and alleviate the socio-economic status of farmers of Peninsular zone in India.

This paper examines seeds' role in sustaining civilizations and asserts that the basis for food security is seed saving. It follows the history of wheat and peoples, focusing on personal  experience growing landrace "Turkey" Hard Red Winter Wheat. The Turkey Red story of 140 years ago has been called a myth. It is part of a developing business model for future seed savers that encourages diverse and locally saved seed supplies. That model is being threatened by patenting seeds today, which limits the availability of seed and the role of seed savers. The paper documents attempts for the development of a biological open source license. The license would work toward preservation of seeds and an indigenous knowledge base for future generations.

ABSTRACT:  Plant growth and yield of cereal crops are seriously affected in drought-prone environments, hence effective agricultural means are needed. This paper aims to evaluate the beneficial effects of supplemental irrigation, at different phenological phases, on theoretical yield components of two varieties (GTA-Dur and Vitron) of durum wheat under field conditions. Field experiments included six water regime treatments: crop evapotranspiration ‘ETc’ throughout wheat growing season (i.e. adequately irrigated); rainfed conditions (no irrigation); and four supplemental irrigation treatments (T1–T4) applied respectively at the beginning of four phenological phases of wheat growth (tillering, heading, flowering, and grain filling). Yield components were significantly influenced at the beginning of the cropping season, while the components expressed in weights were influenced at late-cropping season. Theoretical grain yield of the variety Vitron increased by 33% at T1, 84.3% at T2, 424% at T3, 902% at T4, and 1100% at ETc. Water productivity (WP) increased by 45–70% in irrigation treatments compared to rainfed conditions. Our findings stress that the consistency between appropriate water regime and adequate varietal choice increases WP and crop productivity, and improves irrigation water conservation. Complementary irrigation substantially improves the valorization of water by crops in water-limited areas such as hot arid and semi-arid regions.

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RÉSUMÉ:  La croissance des plantes et le rendement des céréalicultures sont sérieusement affectés dans les environnements exposés à la sécheresse, d'où la nécessité de se disposer de moyens agricoles efficaces. Cette étude vise à évaluer les effets bénéfiques de l'irrigation d’appoint, à différentes phases phénologiques, sur les composantes de rendement théorique de deux variétés (GTA-Dur et Vitron) de blé dur en conditions réelles. Les expériences au champ comprenaient six traitements de régime hydrique : évapotranspiration culturale 'ETc' pendant toute la saison de croissance (irrigation adéquate) ; conditions pluviales (sans d'irrigation) ; et quatre traitements d'irrigation d’appoint (T1–T4) appliqués respectivement au début des quatre phases phénologiques de la croissance du blé (tallage, épiaison, floraison et croissance des grains). Les composantes du rendement sont influencées significativement au début de la saison culturale, tandis que les composantes exprimées en poids sont affectées à la fin de la saison. Le rendement en grains théorique de la variété Vitron a augmenté de 33% à T1, 84,3% à T2, 424% à T3, 902% à T4 et de 1100% à ETc. La productivité de l’eau (WP) a augmenté de 45 à 70% dans les traitements d'irrigation par rapport aux conditions pluviales. Nos résultats soulignent que la cohérence entre un régime hydrique approprié et un choix variétal adéquat augmente WP et la productivité des cultures ; et améliore la conservation de l'eau d'irrigation. L'irrigation complémentaire améliore considérablement la valorisation de l'eau par les cultures dans les zones en manque d’'eau telles que les régions arides et semi-arides chaudes.

Generally, wheat productivity severely affected due to imbalanced fertilizer application, and on other hand NPB are 100%, 90% and 55% deficient in Pakistani soils as well as K deficiency appears rapidly. Therefore appropriate nutrient management is essentially required to obtain economic wheat yield. A field experiment was carried out at Student's Experimental Farm, Department of Agronomy, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, during 2014-15. The trial was arranged on randomized complete block design, replicated thrice and treatments included: Control (untreated), NPK= 90:60:60 kg ha-1 , NPK = 90-30-30 kg ha-1 + B: 1% (tillering), NPK = 120:60:60 kg ha-1 + B: 1% (tillering), NPK = 90:30:30 kg ha-1 + B: 2% (tillering), NPK = 120:60:60 kg ha-1 + B: 2% (tillering).The statistical analysis of data proved that various combinations of NPK and boron application displayed significant (P<0.05) effects on nearly all the growth and yield components of wheat. Thus, maximum plant height 86.7, more tillers 418.0 m 2 , increased spike length 11.6 cm, grains spike-1 51.0 and 49.0, grain weight plant-1 7.9 g, seed index (1000 grain weight) 41.7 g, biological yield 9131.7 kg ha-1 , grain yield 3880.0 kg ha-1 and harvest index 42.5 were noted at NPK-120-60-60 kg ha-1 + B 2% at tillering phase, Whereas, all growth and yield parameters were measured poor under control (untreated) plots. Hence, it was decided from the results that use of NPK = 120:60:60 kg ha-1 and 2% foliar application of boron at tillering stage proved better as compared to other treatments.