Effects of Low Temperature at Booting Stage on Sucrose Metabolism and Endogenous Hormone Contents in Winter Wheat Spikelet.

Low spring temperatures often occur during the winter wheat booting stage, when the young ears are very sensitive to cold. In this study, we used two wheat varieties differing in cold sensitivity (sensitive variety Yangmai 18 and tolerant variety Yannong 19) to examine the effect of low temperature on wheat grain number at booting stage. Low temperature stress was simulated in an artificial climate chamber at 4°C for 60 h in 2016 and at 2, 0, or -2°C for 24 h in morphological assays, showing that the development of wheat spikelets was inhibited and floret growth was delayed following low temperature stress. However, an increase in the sucrose content of young panicles was also observed, and the activity of enzymes involved in sucrose metabolism was dynamically altered. Sucrose phosphate synthase activity was enhanced, and sucrose synthase activity significantly increased after treatment at 4 and 2°C, respectively. However, activities of sucrose synthase and invertase decreased with a reduction in temperature. Gene expression assays further revealed downregulation of TaSuS1 expression and upregulation of TaSuS2, while expression of CWINV was inhibited. Moreover, phytohormone content assays showed an increase in the content of abscisic acid in young wheat ears, but a decrease in the content of auxin and gibberellins. The grain number per spike and 1000-grain weight also showed a downward trend following low temperature stress. Overall, these findings suggest that low temperature at booting induces abscisic acid accumulation in winter wheat, altering the activity of the enzymes involved in sucrose metabolism, which leads to an accumulation of sucrose in the young ears, thereby having a negative effect on wheat production.

Heat Priming During Early Reproductive Stages Enhances Thermo-Tolerance to Post-anthesis Heat Stress via Improving Photosynthesis and Plant Productivity in Winter Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

Heat stress during grain filling substantially decreases wheat productivity; thus, to ensure food security, heat tolerance in wheat needs to be developed. In this study, we evaluated the effect of heat priming applied during the stem-elongation stage, booting and anthesis, followed by 5 days of severe heat stress (a 7.86°C rise in temperature) during the grain-filling stage on physiological activities and grain yield of winter wheat in pot experiments during the 2015-2017 growing seasons using the winter wheat cultivars Yangmai 18 (a vernal type) and Yannong 19 (a facultative type). Compared with the damage observed in non-primed plants, heat priming during the stem-elongation stage and booting significantly prevented the grain-yield damage caused by heat stress during grain filling. Heat-primed plants displayed higher sucrose contents and sucrose-phosphate activity in leaves and greater above-ground dry matter than non-primed plants. Priming during stem elongation and booting led to increased photosynthetic capacity, stomatal conductance and chlorophyll contents in comparison with non-priming. Improved tolerance to heat stress due to the enhanced activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase and peroxidase and reductions in reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde production was observed in primed plants compared with non-primed plants of both cultivars. The positive effect of heat priming on the response to heat stress during grain filling was more pronounced in plants primed at the booting stage than in those primed at the stem-elongation or anthesis stage. Moreover, the vernal-type Yangmai 18 benefited more from heat priming than did Yannong 19, as evidenced by its higher productivity. We conclude that heat priming during early reproductive-stage growth can improve post-anthesis heat tolerance in winter wheat.