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Modelling the effect of plant water use traits on yield and stay-green expression in sorghum

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/9035/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/FP13355
10.1071/FP13355
 
Title Modelling the effect of plant water use traits on yield and stay-green expression in sorghum
 
Creator Kholova, J
Tharanya, M
Sivasakthi, K
Malayee, S
Baddam, R
Hammer, G L
McLean, G
Deshpande, S P
Hash, C T
Craufurd, P Q
Vadez, V
 
Subject Sorghum
 
Description Post-rainy sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) production underpins the livelihood of millions in the semiarid tropics, where the crop is affected by drought. Drought scenarios have been classified and quantified using crop simulation. In this report, variation in traits that hypothetically contribute to drought adaptation (plant growth dynamics, canopy and root water conducting capacity, drought stress responses) were virtually introgressed into the most common post-rainy sorghum genotype, and the influence of these traits on plant growth, development, and grain and stover yield were simulated across different scenarios. Limited transpiration rates under high vapour pressure deficit had the highest positive effect on production, especially combined with enhanced water extraction capacity at the root level. Variability in leaf development (smaller canopy size, later plant vigour or increased leaf appearance rate) also increased grain yield under severe drought, although it caused a stover yield trade-off under milder stress. Although the leaf development response to soil drying varied, this trait had only a modest benefit on crop production across all stress scenarios. Closer dissection of the model outputs showed that under water limitation, grain yield was largely determined by the amount of water availability after anthesis, and this relationship became closer with stress severity. All traits investigated increased water availability after anthesis and caused a delay in leaf senescence and led to a ‘stay-green’ phenotype. In conclusion, we showed that breeding success remained highly probabilistic; maximum resilience and economic benefits depended on drought frequency. Maximum potential could be explored by specific combinations of traits.
 
Publisher CSIRO Publishing
 
Date 2014-07
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/9035/1/FP13355.pdf
Kholova, J and Tharanya, M and Sivasakthi, K and Malayee, S and Baddam, R and Hammer, G L and McLean, G and Deshpande, S P and Hash, C T and Craufurd, P Q and Vadez, V (2014) Modelling the effect of plant water use traits on yield and stay-green expression in sorghum. Functional Plant Biology, 41 (11). pp. 1019-1034. ISSN 1445-4408