Abstract
Potatoes—a global food security and staple crop—is threatened by dry spells in drought-prone areas. The use of physiological thresholds to save water while maintaining a reasonable tuber yield has been proposed, but their effects on physiological performances and usefulness under different irrigation methods are yet to be evaluated. In this study, photosynthetic traits were monitored to assess the effect of water restriction and rewatering under drip (DI) and furrow (FI) irrigations. The treatments consisted of two maximum light-saturated stomatal conductance (g s _ m a x ) irrigation thresholds (T2: 0.15 and T3: 0.05 mol H 2 O m − 2 s − 1 ) compared with a fully irrigated control (g s _ m a x > 0.3 mol H 2 O m − 2 s − 1 ). DI used less water than FI but promoted early senescence and low percentage of maximum assimilation rate (PMA) at late developmental stages. FI caused no yield penalization in T2 and higher recovery of carbon isotope discrimination and PMA than DI. It is suggested that moderate water quantities of early and frequently water pulses in the irrigation, promote short-term water stress memory improvement, senescence delay and more capability of recovery at late stages.
Highlights
Temperature rise and more frequent drought spells induced by climate change may produce concomitant water scarcity and increased evapotranspiration, especially in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world, intensifying water stress [1,2,3]
The use of physiological thresholds for improving irrigation schedules is a valuable tool that allows water saving with limited tuber yield reduction
Whereas drip irrigation allowed for reducing 1421 ± 35 m3 ha−1 of water applied under well-watered conditions, after a water stress, this irrigation method promoted early senescence onset with low photosynthetic recovery after rewatering at late developmental stages
Summary
Temperature rise and more frequent drought spells induced by climate change may produce concomitant water scarcity and increased evapotranspiration, especially in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world, intensifying water stress [1,2,3]. Progressive droughts, followed by rewatering through erratic rainfall predicted by climate change models, might induce negative changes in plant function and production, especially in drought-sensitive crops such as potatoes [10]. It has been pointed out that potatoes have potential for priming acclimation through timing the water reduction directly after tuber initiation [12]. It is essential, to understand how acclimation and phenotypic plasticity, i.e., shifts in phenotype as a response induced by environmental changes [13], will influence the resilience of the potato crop under climate change conditions [9]
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