WheatBP

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Development Home Germination Early growth and tillering Stem elongation Wheat apex development Flowering and fertilisation Wheat ear pictures Anthesis: floret pictures Micrographs of fertilisation
Pollen release Grain growth 1 to 4 days Grain growth 4 to 10 days Cell layers inside a grain Grain filling 11 to 16 days Grain filling 17 to 21 days Grain filling 21 to 30 days Development of the embryo Dry down 30 to 40 days How we grew the plants Photography and microscopy
DAYS = days after flowering

Flowering and fertilisation

Wheat ear pictures

	Spikelets are arranged on alternate sides of the rachis. The collar is a rudimentary spikelet which only rarely sets grain. The last-formed, terminal spikelet is set at ninety degrees to the lateral spikelets, making the wheat ear a determinate structure. More spikelets are found on the mainstem than on the primary tillers. The final number is genetically limited; in cv Mercia it is, on average, 22 plus the terminal spikelet. Cultural conditions will determine how many florets within each spikelet remain viable at anthesis.
	All the events around anthesis must be well co-ordinated for the successful release of pollen and fertilization of the ovule. The ear is quickly raised above the crop canopy by the growth of the last stem internode or peduncle. It remains protected inside the sheath of the flag leaf until the anthers are almost mature.
	Each spikelet initiates between eight and twelve florets of which only four or five will be potentially fertile at flowering. The outer glumes are barren, their function is to protect. Similarly the lemma and palea of each floret protect the delicate structures inside.

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