Relationship Between Grain Nitrogen, Non-Protein Nitrogen and Nucleic Acids During Wheat Grain Development

Eight wheat varieties which normally produce grain of different final percentage nitrogen content were grown under field and glasshouse conditions. The final percentage grain nitrogen of the field grown varieties ranked in the expected order; however, total nitrogen/grain, DNAIgrain, RNA/grain and non-protein nitrogen/grain during grain development differed between varieties. DNA/grain reached a maximum value in all varieties between 21 and 28 days post- anthesis, suggesting a longer period of cell division than previously reported. There was no apparent relationship between final percentage grain nitrogen and either DNA, total grain RNA or the concentration of grain amino acids during development. Heads from glasshouse grown wheat were detached at 8 days postanthesis and grown in liquid culture under conditions where the nitrogen concentration of the culture medium was varied. Fresh weight/grain, DNA/grain, RNA/grain and total grain nitrogen all increased with increasing nitrogen concentration in the culture medium, but grain dry weight remained constant at the different nitrogen concentrations. The changes in fresh weight/grain, DNA/grain and RNA/grain were not the same for all varieties. A possible relationship between total grain nitrogen and DNA/grain and RNA/grain during seed development exists for heads grown in culture for individual varieties. This apparent relationship for individual varieties cannot be used to explain intervarietal differences in total grain nitrogen because in some cases different varieties grown under identical culture conditions, although producing grain of equivalent total nitrogen, had widely differing levels of both DNA and RNA per grain.