Abstract
Wheat production under rainfed conditions is restrained by water scarcity, elevated temperatures, and lower nutrient uptake due to possible drought. The complex genotype, management, and environment (G × M × E) interactions can obstruct the selection of suitable high yielding wheat cultivars and nitrogen (N) management practices prerequisite to ensure food security and environmental sustainability in arid regions. The agronomic traits, water use efficiency (WUE), and N use efficiencies were evaluated under favorable and unfavorable weather conditions to explore the impacts of G × M × E on wheat growth and productivity. The multi-N rate (0, 70, 140, 210, and 280 kg N ha−1) field experiment was conducted under two weather conditions (favorable and unfavorable) using three wheat cultivars (AUR-809, CHK-50, and FSD-2008) in the Pothowar region of Pakistan. The experiments were laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD), with split plot arrangements having cultivars in the main plot and N levels in the subplot. The results revealed a significant decrease in aboveground biomass, grain yield, crop N-uptake, WUE, and N use efficiency (NUE) by 15%, 22%, 21%, 18%, and 8%, respectively in the unfavorable growing season (2014–2015) as compared to favorable growing season (2013–2014) as a consequence of less rainfall and heat stress during the vegetative and reproductive growth phases, respectively. FSD-2008 showed a significantly higher aboveground biomass, grain yield, crop N-uptake, WUE, and NUE as compared to other wheat cultivars in both years. Besides, N140 appeared as the most suitable dose for wheat cultivars during the favorable growing season. However, any further increase in N application rates beyond N140 showed a non-significant effect on yield and yield components. Conversely, the wheat yield increased significantly up to 74% from N0 to N70 during the unfavorable growing season, and there was no substantial difference between N70–N280. The findings provide opportunities for maximizing yield while avoiding excessive N loss by selecting suitable cultivars and N application rates for rainfed areas of Pothowar Plateau by using meteorological forecasting, amount of summer rainfall, and initial soil moisture content.
Highlights
Crop production in the rainfed areas of Pakistan is often jeopardized by rising temperatures during the wheat growth period, which is further expected to rise by 2–3 ◦ C by 2050 [4]
The wheatgrowing season of 2014–2015 due to less rainfall (13% less rainfall than mean rainfall during growing season), during the early vegetative growth period and elevated temperature (Tmax > 32 ◦ C) during the reproductive phase was considered as unfavorable weather conditions for wheat growth and productivity
Our findings emphasize the significance of G × M × E interactions for optimizing the grain yield of wheat grown under rainfed conditions
Summary
Pakistan ranked eighth in global wheat production (24.3 million tons) during 2019. Wheat production in Pakistan is gradually decreasing due to global climate creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). Change, and wheat production in the country decreased by 5.5% in 2019 compared to the national average during the past five years [1]. 80% of the country’s land area is situated in arid and semi-arid climate zones, which comprise nearly 25% of the total cultivated area (23.3 million hectares) of Pakistan [2]. Pakistan is ranked fifth among the most vulnerable countries to climate change worldwide [3]. The average yield gap of wheat in rainfed regions of Pakistan is approximately 66% [2].
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