Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 9.3
(Continued)
Plant traits
Effects relevant for yield
Modulation under stress
References
Photosynthetic
capacity
Modulation of concen-
tration of Calvin cycle
enzymes and elements of
the light reactions
Reduction under stress
Lawlor and
Cornic (2002)
Timing of
phenological
phases
Early/late flowering. Matu-
rity and growth
duration, synchrony of silk
emergence and
anthesis, reduced grain
number
Wheat and barley ad-
vanced flowering, rice
delayed, maize asyn-
chrony
Slafer et al.
(2005),
Richards
(2006)
Anthesis-Silk-
ing interval
(ASI) in maize
ASI is negatively associ-
ated with yield
in drought conditions
Drought stress at flower-
ing causes a delay in silk
emergence relative to
anthesis
Bolanos and
Edmeades
(1993),
Edmeades et
al. (2000)
Starch avail-
ability during
ovary/embryo
development
A reduced starch availabil-
ity leads to
abortion, reduced grain
number
Inhibition of photosyn-
thetic activity reduces
starch availability
Boyer and
Westgate,
(2004)
Partitioning
and stem
reserve utiliza-
tion
Lower/higher remobiliza-
tion of reserves
from stems for grain-filling,
effecting kernel weight
Compensation of reduced
current leaf photosynthe-
sis by increased remobi-
lization
Blum (1988),
Slafer et al.
(2005)
Stay green
Delayed senescence
-
Rajcan and
Tollenaar
(1999)
Single plant
leaf area
Plant size and related pro-
ductivity
Reduced under stress
(wilting, senescence,
abscission)
Walter and
Shurr (2005)
Rooting depth
Higher/lower tapping of
soil water resources
Reduced total mass but
increased root/shoot
ratio, growth into wet soil
layers, regrowth on stress
release
Hoad et al.
(2001),
Sharp et al.
(2004)
