Abstract
Amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor), an underutilized climate smart crop, is highly nutritious and possesses diverse drought tolerance traits, making it an ideal crop to thrive in a rapidly changing climate. Despite considerable studies on the growth and physiology of plants subjected to drought stress, a precise trait phenotyping strategy for drought tolerance in vegetable amaranth is still not well documented. In this study, two drought screening trials were carried out on 44 A. tricolor accessions in order to identify potential drought-tolerant A. tricolor germplasm and to discern their physiological responses to drought stress. The findings revealed that a change in stem biomass was most likely the main mechanism of drought adaptation for stress recovery, and dark-adapted quantum yield (Fv/Fm) could be a useful parameter for identifying drought tolerance in amaranth. Three drought tolerance indices: geometric mean productivity (GMP), mean productivity (MP) and stress tolerance index (STI) identified eight drought-tolerant accessions with stable performance across the two screening trials. The highly significant genotypic differences observed in several physiological traits among the amaranth accessions indicate that the amaranth panel used in this study could be a rich source of genetic diversity for breeding purposes for drought tolerance traits.
Highlights
IntroductionDrought is a major abiotic stress that hampers crop yields worldwide [1,2]
Introduction published maps and institutional affilDrought is a major abiotic stress that hampers crop yields worldwide [1,2]
restricted maximum likelihood (REML) combined analysis for the growth and physiological traits of amaranth accessions evaluated across the two trials
Summary
Drought is a major abiotic stress that hampers crop yields worldwide [1,2]. This affects the food and nutrition security of more than 1.1 billion people in South Asia and Sub-Sharan. A paradigm shift in agriculture systems toward greater sustainability has offered utilization of a wider range of crop species that match prevailing climates [6,7]. In this context, amaranth, an ancient climatic smart crop, offers an alternative cheap source of nutrition for future food and nutrition security. The leafy vegetable amaranth species, Amaranthus tricolor, is widely cultivated in Southeast Asia and Africa, providing an excellent source of macro- and micronutrients such as protein, lysine vitamin C and iron, greater than other leafy vegetables such as lettuce and spinach [9]
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