Heading time is an important adaptive trait in wheat that is strongly influenced by vernalization requirement and photoperiod response and is closely associated with field growth dynamics. This study evaluated heading responses under controlled low-temperature and photoperiod conditions and monitored UAV-derived canopy development in 53 wheat genetic resources. Heading responses were assessed according to VRN1 and PPD1 genotype combinations under different low-temperature treatment durations and under 14 h and 16 h photoperiods after vernalization. Field growth was evaluated using UAV RGB images acquired in 2024–2025 and UAV multispectral images acquired in 2025–2026. Accessions lacking spring-type VRN1 alleles showed delayed heading under the control and short duration low-temperature treatments, whereas accessions carrying spring-type VRN1 alleles headed earlier. After vernalization, heading responses were more closely associated with the number of spring-type VRN1 alleles and PPD1 combinations than with the difference between the two photoperiod conditions tested. UAV RGB and multispectral variables captured temporal changes in canopy development and vegetation status. Multispectral-derived canopy coverage traits characterized variation in pre-winter establishment, relative winter decline, spring recovery, and seasonal canopy development among the wheat accessions. Overall, UAV-derived canopy traits provided complementary phenotypic information for characterizing field canopy development in wheat genetic resources.
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Choi et al. (2026) studied this question.
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