Abstract
Climate change can result in extreme droughts, significantly affecting crop production. C4 crop proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) has the lowest water consumption among all of the cereal crops. Understanding its survival mechanisms is thus crucial for agriculture. Furthermore, yield reduction does not only occur directly due to water shortage, but is also a consequence of an impaired element uptake during drought. This study aimed to examine the effect of water deficiency on proso millet leaf traits, plant biomass partition, and yield. In addition, leaf element contents were analysed, including silicon, which is an important multifunctional element for grasses. The majority of the measured parameters showed little change from the control to the moderate and severe water shortage treatments, even though the soil moisture levels differed significantly. The most pronounced reduction in comparison to the control was for leaf biomass, leaf stomatal conductance, and leaf silicon, phosphorus, calcium, and sulphur contents. Conversely, an increase was obtained for leaf potassium and chlorine contents. Panicle biomass was the same for all plant groups. Leaf silicon was positively correlated to reflectance in the UV region, while leaf calcium was negatively correlated to reflectance in the visible regions, which might prevent damage due to short-wave UV radiation and provide sufficient visible light for photosynthesis. The efficient light and water management, reduction of leaf biomass, and same-sized root system may be the mechanisms that mitigate the negative effects of water shortage in proso millet.
Highlights
Climate change is expected to result in more and more frequent extreme weather events, which will significantly affect crop production [1]
The aim of our study was to examine the effect of severe water deficiency during the mid-vegetative and reproductive phase of proso millet on leaf traits, including the leaf element contents and leaf optical properties, on plant biomass partition, and on yield of proso millet
Treatments was for day 25 of water shortage
Summary
Climate change is expected to result in more and more frequent extreme weather events, which will significantly affect crop production [1]. Yield reduction does occur directly due to water shortage, but is a consequence of impaired nutrient uptake during drought. These effects of drought on the nutritional status of crops varies across different nutrients and species [6]. Growing drought-tolerant crops with low nutrient requirements, or at least more resilient crops, is becoming increasingly important In such a manner, it might be possible to compensate for yield reductions due to drought events and for the decreased quality and quantity of arable land, and to ensure more sustainable adequate food production for the ever-growing global population [8,9,10,11]
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