2021 Volume 90 Issue 3 Pages 307-316
Yukichikara’, ‘Ginganochikara’ and ‘Natsukogane’ are the wheat varieties most commonly grown in the cold regions of Japan. The characteristics of their spikes were compared in two locations: the Morioka and Joetsu. The spikelet number per spike was fewer for wheat in Morioka than that in Joetsu, whereas grain number per spikelet was larger in wheat of Morioka than in that of Joetsu. Although the wheat grown in both locations exhibited an increase in the grain number per spikelet from the base to the center of the spike and a decrease in number toward the top, the grain number per spikelet from the base to the center of the spike was larger in wheat of Morioka than in that of Joetsu. ‘Ginganochikara’ had fewer spikelets per spike than ‘Yukichikara’ and ‘Natsukogane’. However, ‘Ginganochikara’ was also characterized by a higher number of grains per spikelet than the other two varieties. The morphological differences noted among these varieties ware common to Morioka and Joetsu and the difference in the spike morphology between wheat from Morioka and Joetsu was considered to be due to the lower number of days and the lower effective cumulative temperature from seeding to completion of spike formation, in wheat of Morioka than in wheat from Joestu.
