Gas Exchange Traits, Growth and Yield Attributes in Winter Wheat under Waterlogging Stress during Anthesis

摘要

Waterlogging has received considerable attention because of its negative effect on the production of winter wheat. In order to improve waterlogging tolerance, two-year field experiment was conducted to study the responses of winter wheat to waterlogging stress during the anthesis phase. Wheat plants were grown in lysimeters and exposed to five treatments, including no waterlogging stress (control), maintaining the groundwater depth at 200 mm and 400 mm each below ground level for 3 and 5 days during the anthesis phase. The results showed that the photosynthesis rate decreased by 3.8–13.4% after five days of waterlogging stress compared to the control. The photosynthesis rate gradually increased after waterlogging stress ceased, the growth traits including plant height, root and shoot mass including root/shoot ratio were significantly reduced for the groundwater depth of 200 mm for 5 days compared to the control (P ≤ 0.05). Grain yield decreased by 3.8 and 6.0% for the groundwater depth of 400 mm for 3 and 5 days treatments, respectively. While waterlogging of groundwater depth of 200 mm and 400 mm for 3 days treatments also reduced grain yield by 10.2 and 13.1%, respectively. The reduction in number of panicles and spikelets was the cause for the decline in final grain yield and yield had a significant negative correlation with waterlogging stress. The findings of this study also showed that in terms of alleviating the negative effect of waterlogging, the treatment groundwater depth of 400 mm for 3 days should be adopted as a water management strategy to a maintain a high grain yield for winter wheat.