Abstract
1. Phosphorus application alleviates drought stress by increasing grain number and stabilizing yield. 2. Phosphorus application regulates floret development in inferior spikelets, enhancing the formation of fertile florets. 3. Phosphorus increases grain number by modulating photosynthetic performance and nutrient accumulation. Phosphorus application mitigates drought stress and promotes wheat spike and floret differentiation and development; however, the mechanisms by which phosphorus regulates floret-to-grain transition under drought stress to maintain stable yield remain unclear. This study aimed to elucidate the nutritional and physiological mechanisms through which phosphorus application enhances floret development and grain setting, thereby reducing the adverse effects of drought stress in field-grown wheat. Three water regimes (W0, severe drought; W1, moderate drought; W2, well-watered) and two phosphorus levels (P0, no phosphorus application; P1, standard phosphorus application) were applied using two wheat varieties—large-spike Zhoumai 16 (V1) and multi-spike Yumai 49-198 (V2)—over two growing seasons (2020–2022) under field conditions. The experiment systematically assessed the impact of phosphorus on fertile floret dynamics, leaf photosynthetic characteristics, and nutrient uptake and translocation across different water treatments. Results indicated that drought stress inhibited leaf photosynthetic traits in both varieties, impairing aboveground dry matter production and nutrient absorption, ultimately restricting floret development and grain set and significantly reducing yield. Phosphorus application increased chlorophyll (Chl) content, net photosynthetic rate (P n ), maximum photochemical efficiency ( F v / F m ), and actual photochemical efficiency (ΦPSII), thereby promoting dry matter, nitrogen, and phosphorus accumulation in all organs and increasing the ratio of phosphorus allocation to spikes relative to non-spike tissues. Compared with P0, phosphorus application increased spike number, grains per spike, and thousand-grain weight (TGW) in both varieties, with grain number per spike rising by 9.63–18.68% (V1) and 10.88–18.81% (V2), and yield gains ranging from 14.48–33.84% (V1) and 13.23–29.29% (V2). Differences among water treatments and varieties revealed that phosphorus exerted a stronger regulatory effect under moderate drought (W1) than under severe drought (W0) or well-watered (W2) conditions, and its influence was more pronounced in the large-spike variety V1 than in the multi-spike variety V2. While phosphorus application enhanced photosynthetic performance and nutrient accumulation similarly to irrigation, it exhibited contrasting patterns in phosphorus partitioning and TGW regulation. This study provides theoretical insight and technical guidance for improving floret development, increasing grain number and yield, and counteracting drought stress in wheat production through phosphorus-mediated regulation of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus nutrition.
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Claims 20
Claim · model-written summary
Drought stress reduced leaf photosynthetic traits.
- Taxon
- wheat
Triticum aestivumt0 - Treatment
- drought stresse0
- Outcome
- leaf photosynthetic traitse0
- Direction
- inhibitede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“drought stress inhibited leaf photosynthetic traits in both varieties, impairing aboveground dry matter production and nutrient absorption, ultimately restricting floret development and grain set and significantly reducing yield”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought stress reduced aboveground dry matter production.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Treatment
- drought stresse0
- Outcome
- aboveground dry matter productione0
- Direction
- impairinge0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“drought stress inhibited leaf photosynthetic traits in both varieties, impairing aboveground dry matter production and nutrient absorption, ultimately restricting floret development and grain set and significantly reducing yield”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought stress reduced nutrient absorption.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Treatment
- drought stresse0
- Outcome
- nutrient absorptione0
- Direction
- impairinge0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“drought stress inhibited leaf photosynthetic traits in both varieties, impairing aboveground dry matter production and nutrient absorption, ultimately restricting floret development and grain set and significantly reducing yield”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought stress reduced floret development and grain set.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Treatment
- drought stresse0
- Outcome
- floret development and grain sete0
- Direction
- restrictinge0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“drought stress inhibited leaf photosynthetic traits in both varieties, impairing aboveground dry matter production and nutrient absorption, ultimately restricting floret development and grain set and significantly reducing yield”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought stress reduced yield.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Treatment
- drought stresse0
- Outcome
- yielde0
- Direction
- reducinge0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“drought stress inhibited leaf photosynthetic traits in both varieties, impairing aboveground dry matter production and nutrient absorption, ultimately restricting floret development and grain set and significantly reducing yield”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Phosphorus application increased chlorophyll (Chl) content.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Treatment
- Phosphorus applicatione0
- Outcome
- chlorophyll (Chl) contente0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Phosphorus application increased chlorophyll (Chl) content, net photosynthetic rate (P n ), maximum photochemical efficiency ( F v / F m ), and actual photochemical efficiency (ΦPSII)”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Phosphorus application increased net photosynthetic rate (P n ).
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Treatment
- Phosphorus applicatione0
- Outcome
- net photosynthetic rate (P n )e0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Phosphorus application increased chlorophyll (Chl) content, net photosynthetic rate (P n ), maximum photochemical efficiency ( F v / F m ), and actual photochemical efficiency (ΦPSII)”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Phosphorus application increased maximum photochemical efficiency ( F v / F m ).
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Treatment
- Phosphorus applicatione0
- Outcome
- maximum photochemical efficiency ( F v / F m )e0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Phosphorus application increased chlorophyll (Chl) content, net photosynthetic rate (P n ), maximum photochemical efficiency ( F v / F m ), and actual photochemical efficiency (ΦPSII)”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Phosphorus application increased actual photochemical efficiency (ΦPSII).
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Treatment
- Phosphorus applicatione0
- Outcome
- actual photochemical efficiency (ΦPSII)e0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Phosphorus application increased chlorophyll (Chl) content, net photosynthetic rate (P n ), maximum photochemical efficiency ( F v / F m ), and actual photochemical efficiency (ΦPSII)”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Phosphorus promoted dry matter, nitrogen and phosphorus accumulation in all organs.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Outcome
- dry matter, nitrogen, and phosphorus accumulatione0
- Direction
- promotinge0
Not reportedTreatmentComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“promoting dry matter, nitrogen, and phosphorus accumulation in all organs and increasing the ratio of phosphorus allocation to spikes relative to non-spike tissues”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Phosphorus increased the ratio of phosphorus allocated to spikes.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Outcome
- ratio of phosphorus allocation to spikese0
- Direction
- increasinge0
- Comparator
- non-spike tissuese0
Not reportedTreatment
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“promoting dry matter, nitrogen, and phosphorus accumulation in all organs and increasing the ratio of phosphorus allocation to spikes relative to non-spike tissues”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Phosphorus increased spike number relative to P0.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Treatment
- phosphorus applicatione0
- Outcome
- spike numbere0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Comparator
- P0e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Compared with P0, phosphorus application increased spike number, grains per spike, and thousand-grain weight (TGW) in both varieties, with grain number per spike rising by 9.63–18.68% (V1) and 10.88–18.81% (V2), and yield gains ranging from 14.48–33.84% (V1) and 13.23–29.29% (V2)”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Phosphorus increased thousand-grain weight relative to P0.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Treatment
- phosphorus applicatione0
- Outcome
- thousand-grain weight (TGW)e0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Comparator
- P0e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Compared with P0, phosphorus application increased spike number, grains per spike, and thousand-grain weight (TGW) in both varieties, with grain number per spike rising by 9.63–18.68% (V1) and 10.88–18.81% (V2), and yield gains ranging from 14.48–33.84% (V1) and 13.23–29.29% (V2)”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Phosphorus increased grains per spike by 9.63–18.68% in V1.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Material
- V1e0
- Treatment
- phosphorus applicatione0
- Outcome
- grain number per spikee0
- Direction
- risinge0
- Value
- 9.63–18.68%e0
- Comparator
- P0e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Compared with P0, phosphorus application increased spike number, grains per spike, and thousand-grain weight (TGW) in both varieties, with grain number per spike rising by 9.63–18.68% (V1) and 10.88–18.81% (V2), and yield gains ranging from 14.48–33.84% (V1) and 13.23–29.29% (V2)”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Phosphorus increased grains per spike by 10.88–18.81% in V2.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Material
- V2e0
- Treatment
- phosphorus applicatione0
- Outcome
- grain number per spikee0
- Direction
- risinge0
- Value
- 10.88–18.81%e0
- Comparator
- P0e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Compared with P0, phosphorus application increased spike number, grains per spike, and thousand-grain weight (TGW) in both varieties, with grain number per spike rising by 9.63–18.68% (V1) and 10.88–18.81% (V2), and yield gains ranging from 14.48–33.84% (V1) and 13.23–29.29% (V2)”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Phosphorus increased yield by 14.48–33.84% in V1.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Material
- V1e0
- Treatment
- phosphorus applicatione0
- Outcome
- yield gainse0
- Direction
- gainse0
- Value
- 14.48–33.84%e0
- Comparator
- P0e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Compared with P0, phosphorus application increased spike number, grains per spike, and thousand-grain weight (TGW) in both varieties, with grain number per spike rising by 9.63–18.68% (V1) and 10.88–18.81% (V2), and yield gains ranging from 14.48–33.84% (V1) and 13.23–29.29% (V2)”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Phosphorus increased yield by 13.23–29.29% in V2.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Material
- V2e0
- Treatment
- phosphorus applicatione0
- Outcome
- yield gainse0
- Direction
- gainse0
- Value
- 13.23–29.29%e0
- Comparator
- P0e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Compared with P0, phosphorus application increased spike number, grains per spike, and thousand-grain weight (TGW) in both varieties, with grain number per spike rising by 9.63–18.68% (V1) and 10.88–18.81% (V2), and yield gains ranging from 14.48–33.84% (V1) and 13.23–29.29% (V2)”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Phosphorus had a stronger regulatory effect under moderate drought than severe drought or well-watered conditions.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Treatment
- phosphoruse0
- Outcome
- regulatory effecte0
- Direction
- strongere0
- Qualifier
- moderate drought (W1)e0
- Comparator
- severe drought (W0) or well-watered (W2) conditionse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“phosphorus exerted a stronger regulatory effect under moderate drought (W1) than under severe drought (W0) or well-watered (W2) conditions”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Phosphorus influence was greater in V1 than V2.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Material
- large-spike variety V1e0
- Outcome
- influencee0
- Direction
- more pronouncede0
- Comparator
- multi-spike variety V2e0
Not reportedTreatment
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“its influence was more pronounced in the large-spike variety V1 than in the multi-spike variety V2”
t0“wheat yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Phosphorus application and irrigation showed contrasting phosphorus partitioning and thousand-grain weight regulation.
- Taxon
- wheatTriticum aestivumt0
- Outcome
- phosphorus partitioning and TGW regulatione0
- Direction
- contrastinge0
Not reportedTreatmentComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“it exhibited contrasting patterns in phosphorus partitioning and TGW regulation”
t0“wheat yield”
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