Does root development of component varieties play a significant role for yield of the mixtures?

Abstract

The knowledge how to select varieties for the mixtures is still rather limited in general and for root traits in particular. Should root development be accounted for when making mixtures? To answer this question field data and early growth data of roots and shoots from 6 barley 3-component variety mixtures and their components have been compared. The data used comprise of grain yield results from 20 organic and conventional trials during 4 years and root length, root-and shoot weight of 14 days old plants grown in hydroponics. In pure varieties there were positive relationships between grain yield and root weight, grain yield and shoot weight and grain yield and root length. There were similar positive relationships between the grain yield and the mean of the component varieties root weight, shoot weight and root length in the variety mixtures. The regression coefficients were, however, much higher in mixtures than in pure lines indicating some special features of mixtures relative to pure lines in the relation to the early vigour traits. A stability parameter calculated as the mean square deviation from the highest yield showed that the mixtures were more stable than most of the pure varieties. There were a positive relationships between yield stability and root length, root weight or shoot weight, even if not significant. There were also a tendency of positive relationships between the mixture effects, i.e. the differences in yield between mixtures and the mean yield of the component varieties, and the variance in shoot or root growth of the components varieties. It is concluded that varieties in general should have high early root-and shoot growth (early vigour), but in mixtures, early root and shoot growth should differ to some extent between the component varieties

Keywords

Organic Farming; roots; grain yield stability; spring barley

Published in

Publisher: Biocivam de l'Aude, INRA, ITAB, RSP

Conference

SUSVAR Workshop on cereal diversity: Implications for production and products

SLU Authors

• Bertholdsson, Nils-Ove

  • Department of Crop Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
Agricultural Science


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/11175