Increased hot and cold spells resulting from climate change could affect bread-making quality or seed quality for growing subsequent wheat crops, depending upon when they occur.
Greater temperature variability is expected in future years as a result of climate change. The effects on plants of so-called unseasonal warm and cold periods in the spring are particularly noticeable to gardeners and farmers.
Brief periods of high, or very cold, temperatures around the time of flowering in wheat can damage pollination and so reduce grain yield substantially.
Scientists at the University of Reading emphasise in new research, published today in Annals of Botany, that subsequent extreme temperature episodes can have more subtle, important effects not only on yield but also on the quality of wheat produced for different markets.
The researchers exposed wheat plants to temperatures warmer or cooler than ambient for different short periods during seed development and maturation and analysed the consequences for a wide range of contrasting parameters of quality. The effects varied depending upon the timing and type of extreme temperature event and the particular aspect of crop quality.
What are the effects of extreme temperatures on crops?
For example, for bread-making high-temperature episodes during early seed filling improved protein content and starch integrity but reduced gluten strength (and also grain yield); starch integrity was also improved by exposure to high temperature later in seed development and maturation.
On the other hand, the quality of seed to grow later crops was reduced by high-temperature episodes during early seed filling but improved if they occur later during maturation; and vice versa for cool-temperature episodes.
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