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• Background and Aims In maize (Zea mays), early flowering date, which is a valuable trait for several cropping systems, is associated with the number of leaves per plant and the leaf appearance rate. Final leaf number depends upon the rate and duration of leaf initiation. The aims of this study were to analyse the genotypic variation in the response to temperature of leaf appearance rate and leaf initiation rate, and to investigate the co-ordination between these processes under field conditions.• Methods Sixteen hybrids of different origins were grown under six contrasting environmental conditions. The number of appeared leaves was measured twice a week to estimate leaf appearance rate (leaves d−1). Plants were dissected at four sampling dates to determine the number of initiated leaves and estimate leaf initiation rate (leaves d−1). A co-ordination model was fitted between the number of initiated leaves and the number of appeared leaves. This model was validated using two independent data sets.• Key Results Significant (P < 0·05) differences were found among hybrids in the response to temperature of leaf initiation rate (plastochron) and leaf appearance rate (phyllochron). Plastochron ranged between 24·3 and 36·4 degree days (°Cd), with a base temperature (Tb) between 4·0 and 8·2 °C. Phyllochron ranged between 48·6 and 65·5 °Cd, with a Tb between 2·9 and 5·0 °C. A single co-ordination model was fitted between the two processes for all hybrids and environments (r2 = 0·96, P < 0·0001), and was successfully validated (coefficient of variation < 9 %).• Conclusions This work has established the existence of genotypic variability in leaf initiation rate and leaf appearance rate in response to temperature, which is a promising result for maize breeding; and the interdependence between these processes from seedling emergence up to floral initiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive research shows temperature to be the primary environmental factor controlling the phyllochron, or rate of leaf appearance, of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Experimental results suggest that soil temperature at crown depth, rather than air temperature above the canopy, would better predict wheat leaf appearance rates. To test this hypothesis, leaf appearance in spring wheat (‘Nordic’) was measured in a 2‐year field experiment (Nunn clay loam soil; fine, smectitic, mesic Aridic, Argiustoll) with three planting dates and two soil temperature treatments. One temperature treatment (denoted +3C) consisted of heating the soil at crown depth to 3 °C above the ambient soil temperature (denoted +0C). Main stem cumulative leaf number was measured at least weekly until flag leaf emergence. Leaf appearance was essentially linear with both air and soil growing degree‐days (GDD), although there was a stronger linear relationship with soil GDD in the +0C plants than in +3C plants. A weak positive relationship between planting date and the phyllochron was observed. Unexpectedly, we found that heating the soil did not increase the rate of leaf appearance, as the paradigm would predict. To explain these results, we propose extending the paradigm in two ways. First, three processes are involved in leaf appearance: (1) cell division at the shoot apex forms the primordium; (2) cell division in the intercalary meristem forms the cells that then (3) expand to produce the leaf. Cell division is predominately controlled by temperature, but cell expansion is considerably more affected by factors other than temperature, explaining the influence of other factors on the phyllochron. Secondly, the vertical distribution of the two meristems and region of cell expansion occur over a significant distance, where temperature varies considerably, and temperature at a specific point (e.g. crown depth) does not account for the entire temperature regime under which leaves are developing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two experiments were carried out with three isogenic lines (standard height, semi-dwarf and double dwarf) of wheat under field conditions without water and nutritional stresses, with the objective of assessing the effects of Rhtl and Rht2 leaf alleles on leaf appearance and leaf blade area development. Possession of dwarfing genes did not affect phenological development, final number of leaves nor the rate of leaf appearance on the mainstem. The relationship between number of appeared leaves and thermal time could be described by a bi-linear model with an inflection point at the sixth-leaf stages independently of any particular ontogenic stage.Rht alleles caused significant reduction in the growth of leaves and stems, but did not affect internode diameter. Rht alleles were also associated with decreased individual leaf blade area, mainly through reductions in leaf blade length caused by reduced rates rather than durations of extension.The data presented confirm that Rht alleles affect internode growth more than leaf blade expansion; two hypotheses are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]