Analysis of the effect of temperature on yield components and starch concentration in tritordeum and wheat

Abstract

Cereal production is highly dependent on environmental conditions. Elevated temperature is a key factor currently affecting crop yield and grain quality. Tritordeum is fertile amphiploid derived from the crosses between Hordeum chilense, and Triticum durum (tetraploid or hexaploid). This cereal has been described to display important grain nutritional properties. One high yielded bread wheat genotype (Togano) and four tritordeum lines (HTC15432, HT435, HT621, Bulel T1) were selected for this study. Bulel T1 is the commercial tritordeum line, HTC15432 is a new line with high yield and both HT435, HT621 were selected for their high lutein content. These plants were grown in greenhouses under two temperature levels (ambient temperature, Tambient versus elevated temperature, Tambient +4ºC) in order to test the impact of temperature increase on crop productivity and nutritional traits. Together with the agronomic characterization (aboveground biomass, grain yield, kernel number/plant, spike number/plant, thousand kernel weight (TKW) and harvest index (HI), starch, C/N % and protein concentration were determined in grains. Grain yield analyses showed that temperature effect on crop production varied depending on the analysed variety. While HT15432, yield decreased, HT435 production significantly increased. In other cases, no significant effects were observed.