Revisiting yield in terms of phloem transport to grains suggests phloem
sap movement might be homeostatic in wheat
Abstract
Phloem sap transport, velocity and allocation have been proposed to play
a role in physiological limitations of crop yield, along with
photosynthetic activity or water use efficiency. Although there is clear
evidence that carbon allocation to grains effectively drives yield in
cereals like wheat (as reflected by the harvest index), the influence of
phloem transport rate and velocity is less clear. Here, we took
advantage of previously published data on yield, respiration, carbon
isotope composition, nitrogen content and water consumption in winter
wheat cultivars grown across several sites with or without irrigation,
to express grain production in terms of phloem sucrose transport and
compare with xylem water transport. Our results suggest that phloem
sucrose transport rate follows the same relationship with phloem N
transport regardless of irrigation conditions and cultivars, and seems
to depend mostly on grain weight (i.e. mg per grain). When compared to
xylem sap water movement, phloem sap velocity (in m s
-1) was 5.8 to 7.7 times lower. Depending on the
assumption made for phloem sap sucrose concentration, either phloem sap
velocity or its proportionality coefficient to xylem velocity change
little with environmental conditions. Taken as a whole, phloem transport
from leaves to grains seems to be homeostatic within a narrow range of
values and following relationships with other plant physiological
parameters across cultivars and conditions. This suggests that phloem
transport per se is not a limitation for yield in wheat but rather, is
controlled to sustain grain filling.