The means of the traits flowering, plant height and
grain yield were lower in the summer than the winter
environment (Table 2).
It can therefore be inferred that the
high temperatures in the summer (stress condition) led to
a reduction in the three traits, confirming results reported
in the literature (Souza and Ramalho 2001, Cargnin et al.
2006c).
It is presumed that the reduction in the crop cycle
is likely to result in reduced plant height and lower
accumulation of reserves, which reflects in lower grain
yield. According to Reynolds et al. (2001), a shorter crop
cycle can result in a reduced accumulation of total dry
mass when growth rates are insufficient to compensate