Maize, sorghum, and pearl millet have highly contrasting species strategies to adapt to water stress and climate change-like conditions

Choudhary, S and Guha, A and Kholova, J and Pandravada, A and Messina, C D and Cooper, M and Vadez, V (2019) Maize, sorghum, and pearl millet have highly contrasting species strategies to adapt to water stress and climate change-like conditions. Plant Science (TSI). p. 110297. ISSN 0168-9452

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Abstract

This study compared maize, sorghum and pearl-millet, leading C4 cereals, for the transpiration rate (TR) response to increasing atmospheric and soil water stress. The TR response to transiently increasing VPD (0.9–4.1kPa) and the transpiration and leaf areaexpansion response to progressive soildrying were measuredin controlled conditions at early vegetative stage in 10–16 genotypes of each species grown in moderate or high vapor pressure deficit (VPD) conditions. Maize grown under moderate VPD conditions restricted TR under high VPD, but not sorghum and pearl millet. By contrast, when grown under high VPD, all species increased TR upon increasing VPD, suggesting a loss of TR responsiveness. Sorghum and pearl-millet grown under high VPD reduced leaf area, but not maize. Upon progressive soil drying, maize reduced transpiration at higher soil moisture than sorghum and pearl millet, especially under high VPD, and leaf area expansion declined at similar or lower soil moisture than transpiration in maize and sorghum. It is concluded that maize conserves water by restricting transpiration upon increasing VPD and under higher soil moisture than sorghum and millet, giving maize significantly higher TE, whereas sorghum and pearl millet rely mostly on reduced leaf area and somewhat on transpiration restriction.

Item Type:	Article
Divisions:	Research Program : Innovation Systems for the Drylands (ISD)
CRP:	CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Cereals
Uncontrolled Keywords:	C4 cereals Transpiration rate (TR), Atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD), Transpiration efficiency (TE), Progressive soil drying (DD), Leaf expansion rate (LER), Fraction of transpirable soil water (FTSW)
Subjects:	Others > Climate Adaptation Others > Drought Tolerance Others > Cereals Mandate crops > Millets > Pearl Millet Others > Crop Physiology Mandate crops > Sorghum Others > Maize
Depositing User:	Mr Arun S
Date Deposited:	02 Apr 2020 06:16
Last Modified:	02 Apr 2020 06:16
URI:	http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/11437
Official URL:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plantsci.2019.110297
Projects:	UNSPECIFIED
Funders:	UNSPECIFIED
Acknowledgement:	Authors are grateful to Corteva AgriScience for making a set of maize hybrid available for this research. Funding comes from the CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Cereals (CRP-DC) and in part from a research grant between Pioneer and ICRISAT. Senior author is also grateful to Dr Krithika Anbazhagan for assistance with the statistical analysis.
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