THE EFFECT OF NITROGEN AND PHOSPHORUS ON THE EXPRESSION OF STEM SOLIDNESS IN CANUCK WHEAT AT FOUR LOCATIONS IN SOUTHWESTERN SASKATCHEWAN

Abstract

Canuck wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was given three fertilizer treatments (0–0, 10–40, and 100–20 kg/ha of nitrogen and phosphorus) at the time of seeding at each of four locations in southwestern Saskatchewan. Culms were split longitudinally and the length of each internode lumen filled with pith was both calculated as a percentage and rated on a scale from 1 to 5. The mean squares for locations, internodes, location × treatment, and location × internode were significant for both methods of determining stem solidness. The fertilizer treatments had no significant effect on the expression of stem solidness. Weather at a location had a greater effect on the development of pith in an internode than did the fertilizer treatments. The relative fluctuations of stem solidness were similar among internodes even though the absolute percentage of stem solidness differed significantly among internodes. Internode length increased progressively from the base of the culm to the peduncle without evidence of a relationship to the expression of solidness.