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Title: Uniquely identifying wheat plant structures

Author
item MORAGUES, MARC - Colorado State University
item McMaster, Gregory

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/29/2011
Publication Date: 1/2/2012
Citation: Moragues, M., Mcmaster, G.S. 2012. Uniquely identifying wheat plant structures. Crop Science. 52:305-308.

Interpretive Summary: Uniquely naming each part of the wheat plant is useful for communicating plant development research and the effects of environmental stresses on normal wheat development. Over the past 30+ years, several naming systems have been proposed for all wheat canopy parts such as each shoot, leaf, spike, spikelet, floret, and caryopsis structures. While these systems work well in most field situations, several problems have emerged, particularly in situations where many tillers are formed on the plant. This paper describes a naming system that corrects the previous systems so that all canopy structures are uniquely identified and extends the systems so that additional developmental information can be included.

Technical Abstract: Uniquely naming wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em Thell) plant parts is useful for communicating plant development research and the effects of environmental stresses on normal wheat development. Over the past 30+ years, several naming systems have been proposed for wheat shoot, leaf, spike, spikelet, floret, and caryopsis structures. While these systems work well in most field situations, several problems have emerged, particularly in situations where many tillers are formed on the plant. To illustrate one problem, traditional naming systems designated the primary tiller appearing from the axil of the first true leaf (L1) on the main stem as “T1”, the secondary tiller appearing from L1 on the T1 primary tiller as “T11”, and the tertiary tiller appearing from L1 on the T11 secondary tiller as “T111”. However, these naming systems only work for tillers appearing from the first nine leaves on a shoot. For instance, this naming system cannot distinguish between the secondary tiller, T11, appearing from the axil of the first leaf on the primary tiller T1 or the primary tiller, T11, appearing from the axil of the 11th leaf on the main stem. This paper describes a naming system that extends the previous systems so that all canopy structures are uniquely identified and additionally incorporates a phenological component if desired.