COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EARLY ESTABLISHMENT PERFORMANCES OF PERENNIAL WHEAT GENOTYPES

Abstract

Perennial wheat (Triticum aestivum L. × Thinopyrum spp.) presents a promising alternative to conventional annual wheat for sustainable agriculture, offering advantages such as enhanced soil health and reduced environmental impact. This study evaluated the early establishment performances of 20 perennial wheat genotypes sourced from diverse donors alongside two commercial wheat varieties under rain-fed conditions in Bornova, Izmir, Türkiye. Two separate field trials were conducted over two growing seasons (2018/19 and 2020/21), assessed key yield components, including plant height (PH), spike number (SN), spike length (SL), thousand grain weight (TGW), and overall grain yield (GY). Results showed that perennial wheat genotypes exhibited higher plant height and spike length compared to common wheat but had lower grain numbers per spike and TGW. On average, perennial wheat achieved 40% of the grain yield of commercial wheat varieties, with significant variability among genotypes. Notably, the genotype Pw18 demonstrated satisfactory grain yield performance, achieving 5.21 tons ha-1, close to common wheat yields evaluated in the study. These findings highlight the potential of specific perennial wheat genotypes for further development in sustainable cropping systems. However, further investigation is needed to assess the quality characteristics of these genotypes, which will be crucial for their potential use.

Keywords

• perennial wheat
• yield
• annual wheat

References

1. Baronti, S., E. Galassi, F. Ugolini, F. Miglietta, L. Genesio, F.P. Vaccari, P. Cacciatori and L. Gazza. 2022. Agronomic and ecophysiological evaluation of an early establishment of perennial wheat lines in Central Italy. Genet. Resour. Crop Evol. 69: 619-633.
2. Bazzaz, F. A., N. R. Chiariello, P. D. Coley and L. F. Pitelka. 1987. Allocating resources to reproduction and defense. BioScience. 37(1): 58-67.
3. Bell, L.W., F. Byrne, M.A. Ewing and L.J. Wade. 2008. A preliminary whole-farm economic analysis of perennial wheat in an Australian dryland farming system. Agric. Syst. 96: 166–174.
4. Bell, L.W., L.J. Wade and M.A. Ewing. 2010. Perennial wheat: a review of environmental and agronomic prospects for development in Australia, Crop & Pasture Science. 61: 679–690.
5. Burmeister, J. 2021. Promotion of ground beetles by integrating perennial energy crops into existing agricultural landscapes. Biomass and Bioenergy. 146: 105973.
6. Chapman, E. A., H. C. Thomsen, S. Tulloch, P. M. Correia, G. Luo, J. Najafi, L.R. Dehaan, T.E. Crews, L. Olsson, P.O. Lundquist, A. Westerbergh, P.R. Pedas, S. Knudsen and M. Palmgren. 2022. Perennials as future grain crops: opportunities and challenges. Frontiers in Plant Science. 13: 898769.
7. Clark, I., S.S. Jones, J.P. Reganold, K.A. Sanguinet and K.M. Murphy. 2019. Agronomic Performance of Perennial Grain Genotypes in the Palouse Region of the Pacific Northwest, USA. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 3:39.
8. DeHaan, L., S. Larson, R. L. López-Marqués, S. Wenkel, C. Gao and M. Palmgren. 2020. Roadmap for accelerated domestication of an emerging perennial grain crop. Trends in Plant Science. 25(6): 525-537.

9. DeHaan, L.R. and B.P. Ismail. 2017. Perennial cereals provide ecosystem benefits. Cereal Foods World. 62(6): 278-281.
10. Erenstein, O., N. Poole and J. Donovan. 2022. Role of staple cereals in human nutrition: Separating the wheat from the chaff in the infodemics age. Trends in Food Science & Technology. 119: 508-513.
11. Glover, J. D., J. P. Reganold, L. W. Bell, J. Borevitz, E. C. Brummer, E. S. Buckler, C. M. Cox, T. S. Cox, T. E. Crews, S. W. Culman, L. R. DeHaan, D. Eriksson, B. S. Gill, J. Holland, F. Hu, B. S. Hulke, A. M. H. Ibrahim, W. Jackson, S. S. Jones, S. C. Murray, A. H. Paterson, E. Ploschuk, E. J. Sacks, S. Snapp, D. Tao, D. L. Van Tassel, L. J. Wade, D. L. Wyse and Y. Xu. 2010. Increased food and ecosystem security via perennial grains. Science. 328(5986): 1638-1639.
12. Hayes, R. C., S. Wang, M. T. Newell, K. Turner, J. Larsen, L. Gazza, J. A. Anderson, L. W. Bell, D. J. Cattani, K. Frels, E. Galassi, A.I. Morgounov, C. K. Revell, D. B. Thapa, E. J. Sacks, M. Sameri, L. J. Wade, A. Westerbergh, V. Shamanin, A. Amanov and G.D. Li. 2018. The performance of early-generation perennial winter cereals at 21 sites across four continents. Sustainability. 10(4):1124.
13. Jaikumar, N. S., S. S. Snapp, K. Murphy and S. S. Jones. 2012. Agronomic assessment of perennial wheat and perennial rye as cereal crops. Agronomy Journal. 104(6): 1716-1726.
14. Kurmanbayeva, M., A. Kusmangazinov, Z. Makhatov, D. Karabalayeva, N. Yerezhepova, and B. Murzabayev. 2024a. Positive Effects of Perennial Wheat on Soil Fertility, Carbon Stocks and Microbial Biomass in South-Eastern Kazakhstan. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, 33(2):1791-1799.
15. Kurmanbayeva, M., B. Sarsenbek, A. Kusmangazinov, D. Karabalayeva and N. Yerezhepova. 2024b. Anatomical and morphological features, and productivity of six perennial wheat varieties in the agroecological conditions of the Almaty region, Kazakhstan, BIO Web of Conferences, 100, 04048.
16. Liu, Y., W. Song, A. Song, C. Wu, J. Ding, X. Yu, J. Song, M. Liu, X. Yang, C. Jiang, H. Zhao, W. Song, D. Liu, X. Yang, Q. Song, X. Li, L. Cui, H. Li and Y. Zhang. 2023. The improvement of agronomic performances in the cold weather conditions for perennial wheatgrass by crossing Thinopyrum intermedium with wheat-Th. intermedium partial amphiploids. Frontiers in Plant Science. 14:1207078.
17. Mendiburu, F.D. 2023. agricolae: Statistical Procedures for Agricultural Research. R package version 1.3-7, https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=agricolae.
18. Mohamed, N.E.M. 2013. Genotype by environment interactions for grain yield in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Journal of Plant Breeding and Crop Science. 7(5):150-157.
19. Monfreda, C., N. Ramankutty and J. A. Foley. 2008. Farming the planet: 2. Geographic distribution of crop areas, yields, physiological types, and net primary production in the year 2000. Global biogeochemical cycles. 22(1).
20. Pimentel, D., D. Cerasale, R.C. Stanley, R. Perlman, E.M. Newman, L.C. Brent, A. Mullan and D.T. Chang. 2012. Annual vs. perennial grain production, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. 161: 1-9.
21. Pogna, N.E., E. Galassi, R. Ciccoritti, E. Stefanis, D. Sgrulletta, P. Cacciatori, L. Gazza and A. Bozzini. 2013. Evaluation of nine perennial wheat derivatives grown in Italy, In: Perennial Crops for Food Security, Proceedings of The FAO Expert Workshop, ed. Batella et al., ISBN 978-92-5-107998-0. R Core Team.2021. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL https://www.R-project.org/.
22. Scheinost, P.L., D.L. Lammer, X. Cai, T.D. Murray and S.S. Jones. 2001. Perennial wheat: the development of a sustainable cropping system for the U.S. Pacific Northwest. American Journal of Alternative Agriculture. 16:147–151.
23. Shewaye, Y. and T. Solomon. 2018. Performance of Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Line Originating from Various Sources. Open Access J. of Agri. Res. 3(4):2474-8846.
24. Soto-Gómez, D. and P. Pérez-Rodríguez. 2022. Sustainable agriculture through perennial grains: Wheat, rice, maize, and other species. A review. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. 325:107747.
25. Tatar, O., U. Cakalogullari, F. Aykut Tonk, D. Istipliler and R. Karakoc, 2020. Effect of drought stress on yield and quality traits of common wheat during grain filling stage, Turkish Journal of Field Crops. 25: 236-244. Tsitsin, N. 1939. Science of the service of Soviet agriculture.
26. Vico, G. and N. A. Brunsell. 2018. Tradeoffs between water requirements and yield stability in annual vs. perennial crops. Advances in water resources. 112: 189-202.
27. Xie, Q., S. Mayes and D.L. Sparkes. 2016. Preanthesis biomass accumulation of plant and plant organs defines yield components in wheat, European Journal of Agronomy. 81: 15-26.
28. Yan, W., X. Jin, B. Jiang, X. Qi, Y. Chen, X. Li, X. Liu, Y. Ren, L. Cui, Q. Song, H. Li, B. Friebe, J. Li and Y. Zhang. 2020. Development and Molecular Cytogenetic Characterization of Cold-Hardy Perennial Wheatgrass Adapted to Northeastern China. Front. Plant Sci. 11:582.
29. Zadoks, J.C., T.T. Chang and C.F. Konzaki. 1974. A decimal code for the growth stages of cereals. Weed Research. 14(6):415-421.
30. Zhang, Y., L. Jiang, Y. Li, C. Tian, W. Zhang, J. Li and Z. Xiao. 2011. Perennial grain crops: a new option for the future food and ecoagricultural environment. Advanced Materials Research. 361-363:1463-1466.