Grain Filling Variation in Winter Wheat, Barley and Triticale in Pannonian Environments

Abstract

Knowledge about the comparative development and grain filling of winter cereals under different environmental conditions is important for stable and high yielding crop production. The objective of this work was to compare patterns of grain filling in bread wheat, barley and triticale grown in the Pannonian region, as well as to investigate relationships among grain filling parameters, time to anthesis and grain yield. The trials with 12 winter cereal genotypes were carried out in four successive seasons at the location Novi Sad, Serbia. Results of this study showed that all studied grain filling parameters were significantly influenced by species, cultivar, growing season, and species by growing season interaction. Longer duration of grain filling period and period to maximum grain filling were observed in triticale and wheat cultivars compared with six and two-rowed barley. Two-rowed barley cultivars had a higher grain filling rate than other cultivars. Furthermore, a negative association between time to anthesis and grain yield indicates that cultivars with the long pre-anthesis period are not recommended for the agro-ecological conditions of the Pannonian plain. Generally, medium early cultivars of small grain cereals had the highest grain weight within species and spike type, suggesting that medium early cultivars have a balanced ratio of pre-anthesis and grain filling period. High values of final grain weight in different growing seasons indicate that weather conditions in the Pannonian plain are mainly suitable for grain growth.