Abstract
BackgroundWheat (Triticum aestivum L.) productivity is commonly limited by the availability of water. Increasing transpiration efficiency (biomass produced per unit of water used, TE) can potentially lead to increased grain yield in water-limited environments (‘more crop per drop’). Currently, the ability to screen large populations for TE is limited by slow, low-throughput and/or expensive screening procedures. Here, we propose a low-cost, low-technology, rapid, and scalable method to screen for TE. The method uses a Pot-in-Bucket system that allows continuous watering of the pots and frequent monitoring of water use. To investigate the robustness of the method across environments, and to determine the shortest trial duration required to get accurate and repeatable TE estimates in wheat, plants from 11 genotypes varying in phenology were sown at three dates and grown for different durations in a polyhouse with partial environmental control.ResultsThe method revealed significant genotypic variations in TE among the 11 studied wheat genotypes. Genotype rankings for TE were consistent when plants were harvested the same day, at the flag-leaf stage or later. For these harvests, genotype rankings were consistent across experiments despite changes in environmental conditions, such as evaporative demand.ConclusionsThese results indicate that (1) the Pot-In-Bucket system is suitable to screen TE for breeding purposes in populations with varying phenology, (2) multiple short trials can be carried out within a season to allow increased throughput of genotypes for TE screening, and (3) root biomass measurement is not required to screen for TE, as whole-plant TE and shoot-only TE are highly correlated, at least in wheat. The method is particularly relevant in developing countries where low-cost and relatively high labour input may be most applicable.
Highlights
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) productivity is commonly limited by the availability of water
Fletcher et al Plant Methods (2018) 14:77 of new wheat cultivars has been linked with increases in transpiration efficiency (TE) [8], suggesting that indirect selection for TE has occurred as a by-product of breeding for yield in the drought-prone environments of the Australian wheatbelt [9]
Genotype ranking for transpiration efficiency is relatively stable when harvesting occurs at or following the flag‐leaf stage In the first experiment (Fig. 4, Table 2), TE across genotypes was analysed for harvests from the trial-mean 6-leaf stage (E1H1) to 14 days after trial-mean flowering time for the main head (E1H6), i.e. before major leaf senescence
Summary
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) productivity is commonly limited by the availability of water. With projected increase in water-stress events in some regions due to climate change [1, 2] and continuing global population growth, greater food production is needed. This can be achieved, in part, through greater. Fletcher et al Plant Methods (2018) 14:77 of new wheat cultivars has been linked with increases in TE [8], suggesting that indirect selection for TE has occurred as a by-product of breeding for yield in the drought-prone environments of the Australian wheatbelt [9]. Selection based on CID has resulted in the release of two high water-use efficiency cultivars in Australia, Drysdale and Rees [4, 13]
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