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Contemporary buckwheat breeding in Russia is based mainly on a Mendelian mutation det. Some additional mutations are being considered for inclusion in buckwheat breeding programs. Among them are the nr3 (narrow leaf 3) and dfc (determinate floret cluster). We evaluated the effects of the mutations on both the characteristics of photosynthetic gas exchange and the number of seeds per plant. The nr3 reduces the leaf surface area by 1.4 times. The mutant plants show some compensatory increase in photosynthesis rate, which, however, is not enough to reach the level of the source ability as in the wild type since the number of seeds per plant is significantly decreased. The possibility of using this mutation in buckwheat breeding depends on the accumulation of modifiers that increase either leaf size or photosynthesis rate. The reduced number of flowers of the dfs mutation is compensated by an increase in flower fertility, and the number of seeds per plant does not change compared to the wild type. It explains the absence of differences between the dfs and wild type in terms of the photosynthesis rate. This experiment did not reveal any problems for using the dfc mutation in breeding. In general, the results of the work support the photosynthesis rate in buckwheat is regulated based on the source-sink ratio.

Comparison of common buckwheat varieties with determinate vs. indeterminate growth habit reveals no differences in leaf photosynthesis rate at stage before flowering. However, at stage of seed filling the difference was significant. Maximal difference was 20 days after early flowering, i.e in period of most intensive seed formation. These results show that determinate varieties have higher sink strength providing by developing seeds. It is correlated with higher yield ability of such varieties. Probably, growth limitation resulting from det-mutation leads to some shifts in system of sink priorities of buckwheat plant and allows initiate the development of additional seeds. One more possible cause of alteration of the physiological parameters in determinate varieties is some optimization of plant structure: in terms of physiology the determinate buckwheat is a plant which is more similar to cereals than indeterminate buckwheat. However, underlying physiological changes accompanying the transition from indeterminate toward determinate growth in buckwheat remain almost unknown. Assumption about strong effect of det-mutation per se on photosynthesis rate was not supported in our work. Alternative assumption about accumulation of additional genes enhancing the sink ability suggests opportunities for additional progress in the selection work using tools evaluating photosynthesis intensity at stage of grain filling.