Wheat tillering: what it is and the reasons, pros and cons and what they do

People have been cultivating wheat for a long time. Cereal grains can be consumed whole, ground into flour, waste is a quality feed for livestock. The tillering of wheat is the natural biological process of the appearance of nodal roots and lateral shoots in cereals. Regulation of this stage of plant development allows you to increase the yield while reducing the cost of growing.

What is wheat tillering

Tillering is the type of shoot branching characteristic of cereal crops. In the axils of the basal leaves of the main shoot, a thickening (bud) appears, from which new shoots appear.Such kidneys are called nodes; several closely spaced buds form a tillering node. It is located at a depth of 1-3 centimeters from the soil surface and occurs in the phase of development of 3-4 leaves of the sprout.

New shoots that have appeared have their own nodes. Under natural conditions, wheat, with proper care, can form more than 100 productive ears; experiments were carried out at experimental stations on growing 300 shoots.

The reason why so many shoots are not left in the industrial cultivation of cereals is that the plant does not have the resources for growth, the development of such a number of full ears with high-quality grain. The meristem (a set of cells capable of rapid division) of the tillering node of wheat contains a reserve of active substances, provides the plant with the energy necessary for growth, the formation of new parts and the growth of green mass.

Important: the plant cannot survive after the death of the tillering node. This is a critical area of the wheat sprout, under adverse conditions, even with the death of part of the roots and leaves of the wheat sprout, but the preservation of the node, the plant is restored.

Pros and cons

Tillering is the evolutionary protection of wheat from death under unfavorable conditions for development. The degree of tillering is affected by soil fertility, humidity, climate features, and daylight hours. The advantages of this phenomenon are:

• plant vitality;
• opportunity to increase yield by forming more than 3 stems with ears;
• reducing the amount of sowing grain.

The disadvantages of tillering include:

• uneven maturation of sprouts;
• shoots that don't produce grain waste the plant's resources;
• side shoots produce less grain.

The most productive is a bush with a main stem and 2-3 lateral shoots with well-developed roots. In this case, the plant remains strong, the shoots develop simultaneously, the wheat resists adverse weather conditions well and is not prone to lodging.Today, cereal varieties have been bred that give the optimal number of sprouts.

What do they do

Accepted seeding rates reduce the tillering of wheat, 1 ear may die if there are problems with the weather, high humidity, lack of nutrients in the soil.

Increase in row spacing and distance between sprouts stimulates the tillering process. An additional plus is the reduction in the amount of seed grain. The number of shoots also depends on the quality of seeds, pre-sowing soil preparation, and humidity. The indicator increases with the introduction of foliar stimulating top dressing. The presence of 2-4 stalks of wheat in a sprout makes the plant strong, promotes the development of the root system, the ears ripen together, the grains in them are large, there are no problems when harvesting.

Rules

Winter wheat is more productive than spring wheat, sprouts are stronger and more resistant to temperature changes. The tillering period of winter wheat can occur both in autumn and in spring. The optimum temperature for the process is from +10 to +14 °C, with soil moisture of 60-75%, and the depth of seeding also affects it. The timing of sowing winter wheat varies depending on the region, approximately September 15-20. Before frost, the seeds will have time to germinate and get stronger. Before sowing, a complex of mineral fertilizers is applied to a depth of 8-10 centimeters. Potassium, phosphates, nitrogen are introduced, the field is leveled, and wheat is sown.

For the optimal development of the cereal, it is necessary to plant the seeds to a depth of 3-5 centimeters, the soil is rolled for compaction with rollers.Before frost, 2-4 leaves have time to grow and the tillering process begins, it continues at a temperature of + 2-3 ° C, then stops, resumes in the spring, after the soil warms up. If sowing is done late, the process begins in the spring.

Spring wheat is sown when the soil warms up to +5-6 °C. Seeds are planted to a depth of 4-5 centimeters and rolled. Rolling, fertilizing, moist fertile soil enhance the tillering process.

Evolution has allowed cereals to survive for thousands of years, many new varieties have been bred, with proper care they give a high yield, because several ears grow from one seed at once.

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