Nitrogen availability in pre and post anthesis and its effect on grain yield and quality in contrasting bread wheat cultivars

ALZUETA I; ABELEDO LG; MIRALLES DJ

San Petersburgo

Congreso; 8th International Wheat Conference; 2010

N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry

Wheat is the main winter crop in Argentina, sustaining its importance in the yields and quality that make it suitable for the bread-making industry. The nitrogen (N) fertilization management plays a major role to increase and/or stabilize grain yield as well as to optimize the quality for industrial uses. However, the negative relationship between yield and grain protein content (i.e. dilution effect) and the genotype x environment interaction establish a conflict between the concepts of high levels of production and high industrial quality, and thereby, the knowledge of the response of the crop to fertilizer application will become more important in the future. The recent introduction of wheat genotypes of high yield potential has determined the necessity of intensifying the use of fertilizers to avoid low grain protein concentration (GPC). In the near future it will be essential in Argentina to consolidate a system of wheat quality segregation for satisfying the demand of the customers in terms of quality. In this way, the National Seeds Commission of Argentina (CONASE) has proposed a system to segregate grains. The genotypes are separated in three groups of quality, associated with dough properties along different environments of production. The aims of the present work were (i) to identify the main ecophysiological mechanisms that regulate the response of grain yield and grain quality to N availability in wheat and (ii) to establish genotypic differences in the accumulation of N in the grains considering the genotype by environment (GxE) interaction.