Phosphorus nutrition of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). 1. Effects of phosphorus supply on plant symptoms, yield, components of yield, and plant phosphorus uptake

Abstract

The effects of phosphorus (P) deficiency on plant symptoms, yield, and components of yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Halberd), P uptake, and the distribution of dry weight within plants of variable P status were examined in 2 glasshouse and 5 field experiments.

Apart from stunted growth and depressed tillering, the symptoms of acute P deficiency, most noticeable on older leaf blades, were equivocal; they were not always observed on acutely deficient plants and were absent on moderately deficient plants. In glasshouse experiments, the leaves of acutely deficient plants were spindly, erect, and dark green, whereas in field experiments, the leaves were pale green.

In acutely P-stressed plants, leaf senescence, phasic development, and anthesis were delayed. The disorder restricted tiller development and therefore the rate of appearance and the number of leaves per plant. It depressed grain yield principally by reducing the number of fertile tillers.

Severe P deficiency depressed shoot growth within 15 days of sowing and ultimately reduced plant height, root mass, and grain yield. In all experiments, shoot yield responses to applied P increased progressively until stem elongation (Zadoks Scale 30) and changed little thereafter. As a result, the external requirement for P (i.e. P level required for 90% maximum growth) increased with time during vegetative development in most experiments.

Severe P deficiency also affected the distribution of dry matter between the roots and shoots and between the leaf blades and conducting tissues (sheaths and stems). Both of these responses intensified with advancing plant age.

Treatment differences in P uptake in shoots also occurred early in growth and persisted until grain maturity. The partitioning of P between roots and shoots favoured P uptake or retention in the roots of P-deficient plants.

Under conditions of acute and moderate P stress, the resources of the wheat plant appear to be directed towards maintaining root growth (at least initially), limiting and delaying shoot proliferation, and maximising the leaf : stem ratio. These regulations appear circumstantially to be adaptive mechanisms for conserving suffiient P to ensure the survival of at least 1 weak, but fertile, tiller on each plant.