Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

Responses of winter wheat to higher night temperature in spring as compared within whole growth period by controlled experiments in North China 

Author(s):

Shibo Fang*, Sanxue Ren, Kaiyan Tan

Recieved Date: 2012-10-16, Accepted Date: 2013-01-23

Abstract:

The trends of daily maximum and minimum temperature in global warming indicated that the daily minimum temperature (T_min) has risen more than twice as fast as the daily maximum temperature (T_max) over the 20^th century. Most researches have mainly focused on how the crops response to daily mean temperature, while few controlled experiments were carried out to investigate how the crops response to the T_min rise. Especially, no researches reported on how crops response to the higher night temperature, which was the mainly trends of the climate warming. To examine possible effects of night warming on winter wheat yield and growth, infrared heaters were used to increase Higher Night Temperature in Spring (HNTS) by 2.5°C in contrast to the ambient control temperature (CKS) in the field. The paper mainly analyzed the winter wheat yield and growth response to HNTS, and also carried out analysis of the difference responses of winter wheat to HNTS in spring (HNTS) and HNT in whole growth period (HNTW) combined with the previous study. The results indicated that compared to the CKS, growth duration of the winter wheat was shortened, phenological dates were earlier and yields were significantly reduced by 26.6% under the HNTS treatment; compared to the CKW, all phenological dates of HNTW were earlier except for wintering date 5 days late, the entire growth duration of the winter wheat was shortened by 7 days but the wintering duration was shortened by 8 days (as a result the active growth duration (>0°C) was extended by 1 day). The growth duration before wintering of HNTW were prolonged by 5 days which could be beneficial to increasing the number of tillers and panicles. The not declined yields of HNTW were for the reason that the positive and negative effects were offset in the three yield components which had a significantly increased panicle number and a significantly increased panicle kernel number, although a significantly reduced 1000-grain weight. The results indicated that HNT in spring, especially HNT in spring and a lower night temperature in and before wintering duration, could had negative effect on winter wheat yields due to less tillers before wintering and shorten growth duration in spring. The HNT in whole growth duration could have little effect on winter wheat yield as for the adaptation ability offset the positive or negative effects on three yield components. 

Keywords:

Climate change, higher night temperature, winter wheat, yields, adaptation

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Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2013
Volume: 11
Issue: 1
Category: Environment
Pages: 777-781

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