Increasing cereal yield potential for modifying developmental traits.

OTEGUI, M.E.; SLAFER, G.A.

Brisbane, Australia

Congreso; 4th International Crop Science Congress; 2004

Asian Crop Science Asociation and Australian Society of Agronomy

On-farm grain yield of most grain crops has paralleled the improvement in grain yield potential, which has been mainly associated with an increase in the number of harvestable grains. A reduction in plant height (most cereal species) and tassel size (maize), with the concomitant improvement in assimilate availability for the growing spike, have been key traits for enhancing kernel number. The benefits of these traits, however, seem no longer useful for improving grain yield, and new molecular technologies are still faraway from giving a good explanation of the causal relationships between genes and the phenotype of complex traits like grain yield. In this paper we briefly reviewed (i) the importance of improving yield potential for further increasing actual yields in a range of conditions, and (ii) the significance of considering physiological attributes for achieving this goal. We finally discuss recent research on two developmental traits as tools for further raising yield potential in cereals. These are the particular extent of the stem elongation phase in wheat and the synchrony in the emergence of silks within ears in maize.