Deeper roots associated with cooler canopies, higher normalized difference vegetation index, and greater yield in three wheat populations grown on stored soil water.

ABSTRACT: Simple and repeatable methods are needed to select for deep roots under field conditions. A large-scale field experiment was conducted to assess the association between canopy temperature (CT) measured by airborne thermography and rooting depth determined by the core-break method. Three wheat populations, C306×Westonia (CW), Hartog×Drysdale (HD), and Sundor×Songlen (SS), were grown on stored soil water in NSW Australia in 2017 (n=196-252). Cool and warm CT extremes ('tails') were cored after harvest (13-32% of each population). Rooting depth was significantly correlated with CT at late flowering (r= -0.25, -0.52, and -0.23 for CW, HD, and SS, respectively, P<0.05 hereafter), with normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) at early grain filling (r=0.30-0.39), and with canopy height (r=0

SUBMITTER: Li X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6760272 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature