26 Nov 2025

Intermediate wheatgrass grain yield fell 23.4% from year one to year two

Food and agriculture
AI illustration · Illustrative scene, not a photograph of the specific device or experiment.

What was demonstrated

In a study by authors at the University of Minnesota, grain yield of the perennial cereal intermediate wheatgrass fell by 23.4% between year one and year two. The abstract attributes the fall to lower seed mass, with seed number and spike number not reduced. Higher year-one yields were linked to senescence onset being delayed by 421.4 degrees C days. The abstract reports about 1,080 observations across two consecutive growing seasons.

Why it matters

The abstract describes the yield fall between years as a constraint on adopting this emerging perennial grain. The authors link the decline to earlier and slower canopy senescence and suggest leaf nitrogen and stomatal anatomy as possible indirect selection traits.

Caveats

  • The link between senescence timing and yield decline is correlational. The authors describe the senescence explanation as a hypothesis and word their conclusion tentatively.
  • The abstract does not state the site, cultivar or field design. The result cannot be placed in a specific climate or management system from the abstract alone.
  • The comparison covers two growing seasons. It does not show how yield changes over a longer stand life. The full text was not accessible, so this record relies on the abstract and publisher metadata.

Technology profiles

Sources

  1. peer reviewed paper
    Association between leaf senescence dynamics and age-related yield decline in the perennial grain crop intermediate wheatgrass
    Qiansu Ding, Xiaoxing Zhen, Jacob M Jungers et al.. Annals of Botany, 26 Nov 2025. DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcaf307.

Last reviewed 21 Oct 2026.