Effects of pre-anthesis low-temperature stress on the mineral components in wheat grains

Wenbin Ji; Xinyi Hu; Meng Kang; Xiaolei Qiu; Bing Liu; Liang Tang; Yan Zhu; Weixing Cao; Leilei Liu

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1221466

Effects of pre-anthesis low-temperature stress on the mineral components in wheat grains

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Jul 27:14:1221466. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1221466. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Wenbin Ji^{1

2}, Xinyi Hu^{1

2}, Meng Kang^{1

2}, Xiaolei Qiu^{1

2}, Bing Liu^{1

2}, Liang Tang^{1

2}, Yan Zhu^{1

2}, Weixing Cao^{1

2}, Leilei Liu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Crop System Analysis and Decision Making, National Engineering and Technology Center for Information Agriculture, Engineering Research Center of Smart Agriculture, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Modern Crop Production, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
² Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Information Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.

Abstract

Introduction: The nutritional value of wheat is important to human health. Despite minerals being essential nutrients for the human body, they are often neglected in consideration of the nutritional quality of cereal grains. Extreme low-temperature events have become more frequent due to the current environmental unpredictability, and it is yet unknown how the mineral components in grains are affected by low temperature.

Methods: To provide valuable information for enhancing the nutritional quality of wheat under potential climatic conditions, we treated different cold-sensitive wheat cultivars at four low-temperature levels during the individual and combined stages of jointing and booting in controlled-environment phytotrons.

Results and discussion: In general, the contents of P, K, Ca, and Zn in the cold-sensitive cultivar (Yangmai16) and K in the cold-tolerant cultivar (Xumai30) were enhanced by low temperature. However, the accumulation of minerals in mature grains was reduced under low-temperature treatment, except for P, Ca, and Zn in Yangmai16. In addition, the mineral content and accumulation in Yangmai16 (except for Fe) were more susceptible to low temperature during the combined stages, while the mineral content and accumulation of K, Fe, and Zn in Xumai30 were more susceptible to low temperature during the booting stage. Moreover, Yangmai16 under extremely low temperatures (T3 and T4) during booting and Xumai30 under all low-temperature treatments during the combined stages had lower comprehensive evaluation values. These findings offer a crucial reference for enhancing the nutritional quality of wheat grains under climate change.

Keywords: climate change; fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method; low-temperature stress; mineral components; nutritional quality; wheat.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Major Independent Innovation Program of Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Information Agriculture, the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2019YFA0607404), the National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars (31725020), National Natural Science Foundation of China (31872848, 32021004, 31801260, 41961124008), and Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20180523).