The structural and photosynthetic characteristics of the exposed peduncle of wheat (Triticum aestivumL.): an important photosynthate source for grain-filling

Table 1 Temporal changes in the chloroplast ultrastructure of the flag leaf and the exposed peduncle of wheat.

Developmental stage¹	Number of chloroplasts per mm² cell profile		Number of starch grains per chloroplast profile		Number of plastoglobuli per chloroplast profile
	Flag leaf	Exposed peduncle	Flag leaf	Exposed peduncle	Flag leaf	Exposed peduncle
1	68.02 ± 7.16a^2,5	89.95 ± 8.12a	2.21 ± 0.38a³	0	7.83 ± 2.34d⁴	9.82 ± 2.08c
2	65.47 ± 6.71a	87.30 ± 8.54a	2.27 ± 0.24a	0	10.69 ± 2.79d	12.27 ± 3.03bc
3	56.85 ± 5.44b	76.95 ± 6.83b	1.24 ± 0.31b	0	24.74 ± 5.64c	14.60 ± 4.14b
4	33.86 ± 4.29c	55.84 ± 6.47c	0.28 ± 0.10c	0	42.56 ± 7.43b	19.65 ± 4.37a
5	14.42 ± 2.02d	21.28 ± 2.59d	0 ± 0d	0	70.44 ± 11.83a	23.49 ± 3.56a

¹ Stages 1-5 correspond to the end of anthesis, the milk-development stage, the soft dough-development stage, the hard dough-development stage and the ripening stage, respectively.
² Values given are the mean ± standard deviation for four plants (>10 mm² of sections were recorded from each plant).
³ Values given are the mean ± standard deviation for four plants (>30 cells with the largest dimension were recorded from each plant).
⁴ Values given are the mean ± standard deviation for four plants (>50 chloroplasts with the largest dimension were recorded from each plant).
⁵ Means followed by different letters within a column are significantly different by a Tukey test (P < 0.05).

ISSN: 1471-2229