Fruiting efficiency in wheat: physiological aspects and genetic variation among modern cultivars

Efforts to enhance the yield of wheat require increases in the number of grains per m2 (GN) which depends on spike fertility, i.e. the number of fertile florets or grains per spike. Fruiting efficiency (FE), the number of grains set per unit spike dry weight at anthesis, has been proposed as an alternative trait to improve spike fertility and thus GN. The use of FE in realistic breeding programs requires genetic variation within well-adapted,...