Abstract
Crop production in arid regions requires continuous irrigation to fulfill water demand throughout the growing season. Agronomic measures, such as roots-soil microorganisms, including arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, have emerged in recent years to overcome soil constraints and improve water use efficiency (WUE). Eggplant plants were exposed to varying water stress under inoculated (AM+) and non-inoculated (AM−) to evaluate yield performance along with plant physiological status. Plants grown under full irrigation resulted in the highest fruit yield, and there were significant reductions in total yield and yield components when applying less water. The decline in fruit yield was due to the reduction in the number of fruits rather than the weight of the fruit per plant. AM+ plants showed more favorable growth conditions, which translated into better crop yield, total dry biomass, and number of fruits under all irrigation treatments. The fruit yield did not differ between full irrigation and 80% evapotranspiration (ET) restoration with AM+, but a 20% reduction in irrigation water was achieved. Water use efficiency (WUE) was negatively affected by deficit irrigation, particularly at 40% ET, when the water deficit severely depressed fruit yield. Yield response factor (Ky) showed a lower tolerance with a value higher than 1, with a persistent drop in WUE suggesting a lower tolerance to water deficits. The (Ky) factor was relatively lower with AM+ than with AM− for the total fruit yield and dry biomass (Kss), indicating that AM may enhance the drought tolerance of the crop. Plants with AM+ had a higher uptake of N and P in shoots and fruits, higher stomatal conductance (gs), and higher photosynthetic rates (Pn), regardless of drought severity. Soil with AM+ had higher extractable N, P, and organic carbon (OC), indicating an improvement of the fertility status in coping with a limited water supply.
Highlights
The search for additional water resources and improving the effective use of available water is an imperative strategy to overcome rising energy costs and water shortages in many parts of the world
The reduction in irrigation water by 20% (ET0.8 ) reduced the fruit yield by 22.9% and 21.5 % in 2017 and 2018 while the reduction by 40% (ET0.6 ) and 60% (ET0.4 ) reduced fruit yield by 44.1% and 71.0% and by 43.7% and 70.1% in both years, respectively, compared to the full irrigation treatment
Eggplant showed a remarkable decrease in the harvest index (HI), which changed significantly among irrigation treatments, indicating that water deficits had a substantial consequence on saleable production
Summary
The search for additional water resources and improving the effective use of available water is an imperative strategy to overcome rising energy costs and water shortages in many parts of the world. This approach is challenging, especially in arid and semi-arid regions, which highlights an urgent solution for innovative irrigation strategies and optimized irrigation water management. Food production in the future needs efforts to understand the mechanisms of plant adaptation and tolerance of abiotic stress like water shortage, as these events are expected to intensify in the coming years [1]. Water productivity can be improved by developing DI strategies based on scientific principles while attempting to produce near-maximum yields even with a lesser water volume than that required to produce maximum productivity [4]
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