Tolerance of wheat, barley, triticale and rye to manganese deficiency during seedling growth

Abstract

The manganese (Mn) efficiencies, i.e. tolerances to Mn deficiency, of wheat, barley, triticale and rye seedlings, were compared, with emphasis on genotypic variation within wheat. Plants were grown in small pots containing a Mn-deficient calcareous sand, with and without Mn addition, over a 4-week period at 15¦C.Barley proved to be the most Mn-efficient cereal, having the highest dry matter production, Mn uptake and utilization efficiency. The high rate of Mn uptake for barley was strongly associated with greater lateral root development. The severe Mn deficiency of this soil precluded any significant Mn uptake by the other cereals. Differences in growth between wheat cultivars without added Mn were associated with differences in the Mn content of sown seeds.The results obtained from the screening of wheat-barley addition lines suggested that Mn-efficiency characters could be transferred from barley to wheat, since relative growth at Mn 0 was significantly greater for some of the addition lines than for wheat.