Water Use Efficiency For Grain Yield Research Articles

Integrative effect of activated biochar to reduce water stress impact and enhance antioxidant capacity in crops

Biochar is a soil amendment that can change soil's physical and hydraulic properties. However, biochar application is far from being a ‘one size fits-all’ approach. The impact of the management practices is dependent on biochar type (feedstock and production conditions), application depth and method, climate and site characteristics. Hence, this study aims to enrich the available inconclusive information on how biochar could affect clay loamy soil and to assess the potential impact of the induced change on water stress mitigation of rain-fed durum wheat under the specific condition of the semi-arid environment of North West of Tunisia. A field experiment was investigated in which three biochar rates 0 (B0), 10 (equivalent to 0.5% of weight) (B1) and 20 t/ha (equivalent to 1% of weight), (B2), were tested. Other laboratory analysis allowed the evaluation of soil water retention curve (SWRC), saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks), dry density (ρb) and biostress biomarkers such as glutathione-S-transferase (GST), catalase activities (CAT) and malondialdehyde content (MDA) as well as yield attributes. Results showed that treatment B2 significantly decreased ρb and Ks with relative change values of about −3.1% and −19%. Consequently, SWRC showed a better water retention capacity, mostly from saturation to matric potential value (h) of 33 kPa. Total (TAWC), plant (PAWC) and readily (RAWC) available water contents, significantly increased under B2 with relative changes of +6%, +44% and +44% respectively. Moreover, GST and CAT were also boosted under B2. Consequently, biological and grain yields as well as grain water use efficiency (GWUE) significantly increased. GWUE increased from 0.81 ± 0.04 in B0 to 1.09 ± 0.01 kg/m3 in B2. The correlation analysis showed a significant and positive correlation, between GWUE and soil water parameters (θs, θfc and θmre) suggesting the indirect effect of biochar on water-use efficiency for grain yield of wheat. Therefore, among the tested rates 20 t/ha could be suggested to improve plant soil water availability and reduce the harmful impact of drought stress on rain-fed durum wheat.

Adaptive nitrogen inputs sustain water-nitrogen use and improve maize productivity with varied precipitation conditions on a semi-arid agroecosystem.

Maize productivity in semi-arid regions is increasingly at risk because of the sparse and uneven precipitation, and it is also restricted by excessive or insufficient fertilization management strategies. A 4-year (2016-2019) field experiment was therefore conducted to show the effects of fertilizer with five nitrogen levels (0, 75-90, 150-180, 270, and 360 kg ha-1 , represented as N0 , N75-90 , N150-180 , N270 , N360 , respectively) under two variable precipitation patterns (rainy at pre-anthesis in 2016 and 2018 versus dry at pre-anthesis in 2017 and 2019) on soil water storage (SWS), water use efficiency (WUE), nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), and maize yield in the Loess Plateau. Nitrogen inputs increased the amount of above-ground dry matter and the WUE for dry matter (WUEd). Dry years at pre-anthesis significantly reduced dry matter accumulation and kernel number per plant. However, soil water storage before sowing (SWSs) decreased from 440 mm in 2016 to 384 mm in 2019, and the increase in fertilization resulted in the water imbalance. Both the maximum grain yield and WUE for grain yield were found in N270 under rainy years at pre-anthesis, whereas in N150-180 under dry years at pre-anthesis. The average nitrogen recovery efficiency (NRE),nitrogen agronomy efficiency(NAE) and nitrogen partial factor productivity (NPFP) decreased with increases in N application, compared with N360 , the NRE,NAE and NPFP of N150-180 increased by 63.5%, 189.2% and 135.5%, respectively. Reducing basal N fertilizers could enhance maize yield and maintain moderate water and nitrogen productivity in years with less rainfall. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Exogenous ABA Induces Osmotic Adjustment, Improves Leaf Water Relations and Water Use Efficiency, But Not Yield in Soybean under Water Stress

Abscisic acid (ABA) plays a central role in the plant response to water deficit by inducing stomatal closure to conserve water when the soil dries. Exogenous ABA was applied at 45 days after sowing (DAS) as a soil drench, the physiological and seed yield response of soybean to exogenous ABA were examined as the soil was drying. Three experiments were conducted using the drought-tolerant soybean cultivar Jindou 19, grown in pots at the Yuzhong Experimental Station of Lanzhou University, China. In experiment 1, plants were exposed to progressive soil drying and leaf ABA concentration, leaf photosynthesis rate, leaf relative water content (RWC) and osmotic adjustment (OA) were measured. In experiment 2, plants were under progressive soil drying and lethal leaf water potential was measured. In experiment 3, flower production and abortion, and grain yield were measured in plants under well-watered (WW), moderate (MWD) and severe water deficits (SWD). Exogenous ABA application increased ABA accumulation in leaves and reduced the rate of soil drying. It also increased leaf photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate at 7–10 days after withholding water. The intrinsic and instantaneous water use efficiency (WUE) was consistently higher with exogenous ABA than without ABA as the soil dried. Exogenous ABA increased OA when the leaf relative water content (RWC) decreased at eight days after withholding water, lowering the lethal leaf water potential by 0.4 MPa. Exogenous ABA reduced water use, increased WUE for grain yield under WW and MWD, and had no effect on flower number, flower abortion or grain yield in any water treatment. We concluded that (1) exogenous ABA induced OA, improved leaf photosynthetic rate, leaf water relations and desiccant tolerance, but did not benefit grain yield in soybean under water deficits; (2) exogenous ABA improved the WUE at the leaf level as soil drying and WUE for grain yield under moderate water deficit.

Maize response to water, salinity and nitrogen levels: yield-water relation, water-use efficiency and water uptake reduction function

Water, salinity and nitrogen are the major factors affecting maize production in arid and semi-arid areas. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of different water, salinity and nitrogen levels on yield-water relationships, water use, water productivity (WP), water use efficiency (WUE) and water uptake reduction function by maize hybrid SC-704 in a semi-arid area and silty clay loam soil. A split-split-plot design with three replications in two years of 2009 and 2010 was conducted. The different levels of irrigation water considered as main plot, salinity of irrigation water as sub-plot and nitrogen fertilizer rate as sub-sub-plot. Irrigation treatments consisted of I1 (1.0ETc+0.25ETc as leaching), I2 (0.75I1) and I3 (0.50I1) applied at 7-day intervals. The salinity treatments of irrigation were 0.6 (fresh water), 2.0 and 4.0 dS m -1 . There were also three nitrogen (N) treatments including 0, 150 and 300 kg N ha -1 . Results showed that the actual crop ET and transpiration (T) were significantly less in I3 as compared to I1 treatments as 42 and 43%, respectively. Besides, T values under S3 were statistically less than that in S1 treatment as 12%. The soil evaporation (E) values were 26, 31 and 27% of ET at I1, I2 and I3 treatments, respectively and its values significantly increased with increasing salinity levels of irrigation water. The minimum and maximum amount of E occurred at I3S1N3 and I1S3N3, respectively. The study showed that deficit irrigation as 0.50I1 and 0.75 I1 were the optimum levels of irrigation to access the highest WP and WUE for dry matter (DM) and grain yield (GY) respectively. Besides, S1 was the optimum treatment for achievement of highest WP and WUE for DM and GY. Results also indicated that the optimum treatment for WP and WUE for GY was I2S1N3. Furthermore, N fertilization could not statistically improve WP and WUE beyond 150 kg N ha -1 . The yield response factor to water showed that maize GY was more sensitive to water than its DM. Results also

Detecting quantitative trait loci for water use efficiency in rice using a recombinant inbred line population

Breeding rice with high water use efficiency (WUE) can ameliorate water shortage through water-saving irrigation. However, WUE is a complex quantitative trait and very few studies have been conducted to measure WUE directly. In this study, a recombined inbred line population derived from a cross between an indica lowland rice and upland japonica rice was used to dissect the genetic control of WUE by fine-monitored water supply experiments. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) were scanned for 10 traits including heading date (HD), water-consumption per day (water/d), shoot weight gain per day (shootw/d), root weight gain per day (rootw/d), kernel weight gain per day (kernelw/d), average WUE at whole plant level (WUEwhole/d), average WUE for up-ground biomass (WUEup/d), average WUE for grain yield (WUEyield/d), average economic index (econindex/d), and average root/shoot ratio per day (ratio/d). The results show that most of the traits were significantly correlated to each other. Twenty-four QTL (LOD ⩾ 2.0) were detected for econindex, econindex/d, WUEyield, WUEyield/d, WUEup, WUEup/d, WUEwhole, WUEwhole/d, kernelw, kernelw/d, rootw, and water/d by composite interval mapping. These QTLs are located on chromosomes 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 12. Individual QTLs accounted for 4.97%–10.78% of the phenotypic variation explained. Some of these QTLs overlapped with previously reported drought resistance QTLs detected in this population. These results provide useful information for further dissection of the genetic basis and marker-assisted selection of WUE in rice.

Winter barley performance under different cropping and tillage systems in semiarid Aragon (NE Spain)

Winter barley is the major crop on semiarid drylands in central Aragon (NE Spain). In this study we compared, under both continuous cropping (BC) (5–6-month fallow) and a crop–fallow rotation (BF) (16–18-month fallow), the effects of three fallow management treatments (conventional tillage, CT; reduced tillage, RT; no-tillage, NT) on the growth, yield and water use efficiency (WUE) of winter barley during three consecutive growing seasons in the 1999–2002 period. Daily precipitation measurements and monthly measurements of soil water storage to a depth of 0.7 m were used to calculate crop water use (ET) and its components. The average growing season precipitation was 195 mm. Above-ground dry matter (DM) and corresponding WUE were high in years with high effective rainfalls (>10 mm day −1) either in autumn or spring. However, the highest values of WUE for grain yield were mainly produced by effective rainfalls during the time from stem elongation to harvest. Despite the similarity in ET for the three tillage treatments, NT provided the lowest DM production, corresponding to a higher soil water loss by evaporation and lower crop transpiration ( T), indicated by the lowest T/ET ratio values found under this treatment. No clear differences in crop yield were observed among the tillage treatments in the study period. On average, and regardless of the type of tillage, BF provided the highest values of DM and WUE and yielded 49% more grain than BC. These differences between cropping systems increased when water-limiting conditions occurred in the early stages of crop growth, probably due to the additional soil water storage under BF at sowing. Although no significant differences in precipitation use efficiency (PUE) were observed between BC and BF, PUE was higher under the BC system, which yielded 34% more grain than the BF rotation when yields were adjusted to an annual basis including the length of the fallow. The crop yield under BF was not dependent on the increase in soil water storage at the end of the long fallow. In conclusion, this study has shown that, although conventional tillage can be substituted by reduced or no-tillage systems for fallow management in semiarid dryland cereal production areas in central Aragon, the practice of long-fallowing to increase the cereal crop yields is not longer sustainable.

Effects of Alternate Furrow Irrigation with Supplemental Every-Furrow Irrigation at Different Growth Stages on the Yield of Maize (Zea mays L.)

The effect of water stress caused by alternate furrow irrigation (AFI) on the yield of maize may be alleviated by applying every-furrow irrigation (EFI) at stress sensitive growth stages. This research was conducted in two different areas with deep and shallow water tables to examine the amount of water used, yield, yield components and water use-efficiency of maize under AFI at 7-day intervals supplemented with EFI at different stages. AFI resulted in significant reduction in grain yield and in both Bajgah and the Kooshkak areas with deep and shallow water tables, respectively. This occurred due to probable water stress and reduction in 1000-grain weight. However, under AFI supplemented with EFI once or twice at the tasseling or silking stage grain yields were statistically equal to those obtained in EFI although the amount of water used was about 30% smaller in both Bajgah (deep water table) and Kooshkak areas (shallow water table). In both areas the water-use efficiency for grain yield under these irrigation treatments was 1.04 and 0.97 kg grain per m3 of water, respectively.

Growth, yield and water productivity of barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) affected by tillage and N fertilization in Mediterranean semiarid, rainfed conditions of Spain

In dryland agricultural systems of the Mediterranean area, the amount and variability of the rainfall are the main constraints to crop yield. Soil management through tillage and rational use of N fertilization can improve the performance of crops through improved use of available water and increased use efficiency. Field experiments were carried out at three locations differing in degree of aridity (Guissona, Agramunt and Candasnos) in the Ebro Valley in Northeast Spain during three growing seasons. Yield and water-use efficiency (WUE) of barley, the predominant crop in the area, were examined under three levels of N fertilization (zero, medium and high) and three soil management systems (no tillage (NT), minimum or reduced (MT) and conventional tillage (CT)). Soil water content, total crop dry matter, leaf area, yield and yield components were measured during consecutive crop cycles. In general, both levels of added nitrogen, increased the yield to about 30% above zero nitrogen. Grain number increased with N fertilization and determined the level of yield response. At two locations (Guissona and Agramunt), a positive effect of MT or NT was observed under dry conditions. Yield (up to 60%) and WUE (up to 50%) were reduced by tillage. In the driest location of Candasnos, where a better response to reduced tillage (MT and NT) was expected, the WUEs for grain yield were low for all treatments (between 2.4 and 6.5 kg ha −1 mm −1) and the best crop performance was obtained in tilled treatments. Negative effects on yield were caused by the pests Mayetiola mimeuri Mesnil and Tetramesa tritici (Fitch), when stubble residues remained without tillage management. The use of conservation tillage in this specific Northeast area of the Ebro Valley improved the yield of barley and its WUE. Nitrogen fertilization in this area could be reduced to levels lower that those currently used by farmers. This reduction could be greater with increased tillage intensity. No additional N fertilizer was needed when under conservation tillage.

Water-use efficiency and transpiration efficiency of wheat under rain-fed conditions and supplemental irrigation in a Mediterranean-type environment

Growth and water use were measured in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown in northern Syria in a typical Mediterranean climate over five seasons 1991/92–1995/96. Water use was partitioned into transpiration (T) and soil evaporation (Es) using Ritchie's model, and water-use efficiency (WUE) and transpiration efficiency (TE) were calculated. The aim of the study was to examine the influence of irrigation and nitrogen on water use, WUE and TE. By addition of 100 kg N ha-1, Es was reduced from 120 mm to 101 mm under rain-fed conditions and from 143 mm to 110 mm under irrigated conditions, and T was increased from 153 mm to 193 mm under rain-fed conditions and from 215 mm to 310 mm under irrigated conditions. Under rain-fed conditions, about 35% of evapotranspiration (ET) may be lost from the soil surface for the fertilized crops and 44% of ET for the unfertilized crops. Transpiration accounted for 65% of ET for the fertilized crops and 56% for the unfertilized crops under rain-fed. As a result of this, WUE was increased by 44% for dry matter and 29% for grain yield under rain-fed conditions, and by 60% for dry matter and 57% for grain yield under irrigated conditions. Transpiration efficiency for the fertilized crops was 43.8 kg ha-1 mm-1 for dry matter and 15 kg ha-1 mm-1 for grain yield, while TE for the unfertilized crops was 33.6 kg ha-1 mm-1 and 12.2 kg ha-1 mm-1 for dry matter and grain yield, respectively. Supplemental irrigation significantly increased post-anthesis water use, transpiration, dry matter and grain yield. Water-use efficiency for grain yield was increased from 9.7 to 11.0 kg ha-1 mm-1 by supplemental irrigation, although WUE for dry matter was not affected by it. Irrigation did not affect transpiration efficiency for grain yield, but decreased transpiration efficiency for dry matter by 16%. This was associated with higher harvest index as a result of good water supply in the post-anthesis period and increased transpiration under irrigated conditions.

Effect of irrigation and nitrogen on water use efficiency of wheat in Saudi Arabia

Water use efficiency (WUE) and yield of wheat were determined in a field experiment using different irrigation waters, with and without nitrogen fertilizer on a sandy to loamy sand soil during 1991–1992 and 1992–1993. Depending upon different fertilizer treatments, the mean crop yield ranges in 1992–1993 were: biomass 4290–13 960 kg ha −1 (well water) and 6460–14 870 kg ha −1 (aquaculture effluent) and grain yield 770–5010 kg ha −1 (well water) and 2140–5790 kg ha −1 (aquaculture effluent). The WUE for grain yield in 1991–1992 was 2.67–12.24 kg ha −1 mm −1 (well water) and 4.29–12.67 kg ha −1 mm −1 (aquaculture effluent). The WUE for grain yield in 1992–1993 was 1.22–7.97 kg ha −1 mm −1 (well water) and 3.40–9.21 kg ha −1 mm −1 (aquaculture effluent). The WUE for biomass in 1991–1992 ranged between 8.74–29.16 kg −1 ha −1 mm −1 (well water) and 11.34–30.02 kg ha −1 mm −1 (aquaculture effluent). Whereas in 1992–1993, the WUE for biomass was 6.82–22.19 kg ha −1 mm −1 (well water) and 8.68–23.64 kg ha −1 mm −1 (aquaculture effluent). The grain yield and WUE obtained in T4 and T5 irrigated with well water and receiving 75 and 100% nitrogen requirements, were comparable with T4 and T5 irrigated with aquaculture effluent and receiving 25 and 50% nitrogen requirements. It is, therefore, concluded that application of 150–225 kg N ha −1 for well water irrigation and 75–150 kg N ha −1 for aquaculture effluent irrigation containing 40 mg N 1 −1 would be sufficient to obtain optimum grain yield and higher WUE of wheat in Saudi Arabia.