Changes in Cold Hardiness of Overwintering Winter Wheat

Plantings of Rideau and Cappelle Desprez winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were made on 12, 21, and 28 September 1972, and sampled for cold hardiness and survival throughout the fall, winter, and spring. Samplings in winter from frozen soil were made with the aid of a concrete chipper with a vertically oscillating blade. Both wheat cultivars hardened rapidly in fall but the decline in hardiness and vigor under ice during winter was more rapid in Cappelle Desprez plants. Rideau plants rehardened after thawing of the ice cover. The greater hardiness and survival of Rideau plants was due possibly to their lower metabolic rate and consequent energy conservation under ice cover.