Spring Cereals: From Dynamic Ideotypes to Cultivars in Northern Latitudes

Abstract

The ideotype of a crop is a model of a plant community where all necessary and beneficial traits for crop performance in a particular environment are combined. It is important to consider the environment when developing an ideotype since climatic, edaphic and agronomic features of the target region have a major role in determining crop performance. New technologies, high yielding cultivars, irrigation and water management, plant protection materials and more skilful farm management practices have increased yields and yield potentials on cereals in Finland as in many other countries. In this paper we aim to summarize traits which would be useful from the farmers' perspective. The most important trait is increased early vigour of spring cereals, including faster rate of early development and increased leaf area to improve both the resource capture of the canopy and water use efficiency. Introduction of dwarfing genes would improve lodging resistance and harvest index due to improved partitioning of dry matter into grains whereas longer coleoptiles would improve emergence and seedling establishment. Improved ability of crops to utilize stem reserves during grain filling would increase resistance against environmental stresses. All of these traits would also increase the competitive ability of the plant against weeds as well as competition within the crop canopy and are already available from non-adapted germplasm of the various spring cereal species.

Proof of concept: nitrogen use efficiency of contrasting spring wheat varieties grown in greenhouse and field

“…The results indicate that even the relatively short drought periods applied here reduced yield and NUE through grain-specific N efficiency especially at high nutrient supply. According to our results, a critical issue at least under the conditions in Northern Europe is whether drought will become more frequent also early in the growing season, an issue also pointed out by Mäkelä et al (2008). Genotype by drought interaction for some of the traits (e.g.…”

Effects of Crop Leaf Angle on LAI-Sensitive Narrow-Band Vegetation Indices Derived from Imaging Spectroscopy

“…LAI can still be rapidly and reliably estimated using VIs in breeding projects with limited within-sample structural variation in which early vigor is of interest. LAI estimation can be used to select the populations with the greatest leaf area as the most vigorous ones, as early vigor gives an advantage over weeds [53,54]. VI-based LAI estimation could also be potentially used in optimizing crop production and the development of best crop management practices, such as the timing of application of water, fertilizers, and pesticides [55][56][57].…”

Irrigation of Field Crops in the Boreal Region

“…In general, the amount of vegetative biomass at the time of anthesis is related closely to the final number of grains (reviewed in Passioura & Angus, 2010). For spring cereals, long coleoptiles and vigorous seedling emergence are important traits in Boreal conditions, where there is uneven precipitation and a short growing season (reviewed in Mäkelä et al, 2008). In spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), early season water deficit reduced both the sink and source capacity of plants through decrease in photosynthesis and thereby dry weight accumulation and number of grains (Rajala et al, 2011).…”