Innovative experiments using temperature-controlled field plots have helped to explain the link between early winter temperatures and yield in some of our most marketable arable crops.
Innovative experiments using temperature-controlled field plots have helped to explain the link between early winter temperatures and yield in some of our most marketable arable crops.
Laboratory and in-field technology enabled the team of researchers from the John Innes Centre to simulate full growing seasons and establish that chilling is important in late November/early December because it promotes growth during early floral development of the crop.
They showed that oilseed rape plants can undergo a developmental phase known as flower bud dormancy if the winter temperature is too warm. This physiological process occurs as the microscopic, newly formed buds lie inactive waiting for low temperatures to signal growth and is well understood in perennial plants which grow year after year.
This development stage was not known to exist in annual crops; those that complete their life cycle in one growing season.
Read more at John Innes Centre
Image: Innovative experiments using temperature-controlled field plots have helped to explain the link between early winter temperatures and yield in some of our most marketable arable crops. (Credit: Phil Robinson - John Innes Centre)
