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The relations between the main shoot and tillers in barley plants

SUMMARY Barley plants normally produce some tillers which die at an early stage, without bearing an ear. To investigate the proposition that these non-ear-bearing tillers may be wasteful of plant resources, two experiments were made in which the effect of tiller growth on the growth and final size of the main shoot was assessed. In one experiment, tillers were removed at a very early stage when they were a few mm long, or later when they were just emerging from the subtending leaf sheath. In the other experiment the main shoot was removed from the embryo and the size of the coleoptile tiller which grew in its absence was measured. Tiller removal affected the growth and final size of the main shoot. Leaves emerged more quickly on the main shoot of the detillered plants and were bigger and sometimes more in number. The main shoot of the detillered plants was heavier and it bore a greater weight of grain because the ear had more and heavier grains. In the experiments where the main shoot was removed the coleoptile tiller produced more leaves, which emerged more rapidly and it bore more grains than the coleoptile tiller of the intact plants. It is concluded that tillers, during their initiation and early growth, compete with the main shoot for a limited supply of resources, thus reducing the size of the main shoot. As some of the resources of the plant are used to produce tillers which die at an early stage and make no contribution to the final grain yield, it appears that they should be regarded as wasteful and that their production may reduce the final grain yield. The physiology of the initiation, growth and early death of these non-ear-bearing tillers requires further investigation.