Open Access

ARTICLE

Seed Setting and Its Spatial Characteristics in Tartary Buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum)

by Dabing Xiang^1,#, Yue Song^1,#, Chao Song², Yan Wan¹, Xueling Ye¹, Changying Liu¹, Chenggang Liang³, Gang Zhao^1,*

1 Key Laboratory of Coarse Cereal Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Food and Biological Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu, 610106, China
2 French Associates Institute for Agriculture & Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, 84990, Israel
3 Research Center of Buckwheat Industry Technology, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, 550001, China

* Corresponding Author: Gang Zhao. Email:
# This author contributed equally to this work

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2022, 91(8), 1659-1669. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2022.020338

Received 17 November 2021; Accepted 07 January 2022; Issue published 14 April 2022

Abstract

A low seed-setting rate is the main limiting factor influencing Tartary buckwheat production under high-yield cultivation conditions. To investigate the seed setting and its spatial characteristics, two Tartary buckwheat cultivars (high seed-setting rate cultivar Qianku 3; low seed-setting rate cultivar Liuku 3) were compared by a two-year field trial in 2017 and 2018. The results showed that the Tartary buckwheat underwent simultaneous flowering and fruiting. Flowers, generated from branch, were still blooming during the mature stage of grains on stem, which resulting in a greater number of flowers and grains on the branch than those on the stem at the low part of plant. The seed-setting characteristics significantly differed between two cultivars. The high seed-setting rate of Qianku 3 was 26.6% and 33.2% higher than Liuku 3 in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Meanwhile, Qianku 3 showed a higher filled grain number (157.8%) and seed-setting rate (66.4%) on branch than Liuku 3. A network analysis showed that the whole-plant seed-setting rate was positively correlated with grain number, which was closely correlated with flower number at the same position of plant. The path-coefficient analysis revealed that grains number on branches was the most dominant component (Path coefficient (P) = 2.19) of the seed-setting rate, followed by grains number on stem (P = 0.60). The grains number on branches showed the greatest positive direct effect with significant correlation (r = 0.76 and P < 0.01) on the seed-setting rate. Overall, the present study indicated that the grain number of branches may play a vital role in improving the seed-setting rate in Tartary buckwheat.

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