Wheat cultivar mixtures increase grain yield under varied climate conditions
Scaling current cereal production to meet the globally increasing food demand will be a challenge under climate change. Previous studies have shown that crop diversification, such as intercropping, can increase crop yield, stability, resource-use efficiency and resistance to both biotic and abiotic...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2023-06-01
|
| Series: | Basic and Applied Ecology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179123000129 |
| _version_ | 1797755053032865792 |
|---|---|
| author | Xiang Kong Li Li Peng Peng Kunpu Zhang Zhengjiang Hu Xijiu Wang Guishen Zhao |
| author_facet | Xiang Kong Li Li Peng Peng Kunpu Zhang Zhengjiang Hu Xijiu Wang Guishen Zhao |
| author_sort | Xiang Kong |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Scaling current cereal production to meet the globally increasing food demand will be a challenge under climate change. Previous studies have shown that crop diversification, such as intercropping, can increase crop yield, stability, resource-use efficiency and resistance to both biotic and abiotic stresses in agroecosystems. However, more evidence is needed to explain the influence of inter-annual climate variations on crop yield in the context of genetic diversity. Here, we conducted a field experiment over four years in the North China Plain to test the effect of genetic diversity on yield under varied climate conditions. We compared the performance of eight winter wheat cultivars in monocropping with that of mixed cropping of two (mixture-2), four (mixture-4), and eight (mixture-8) cultivars. Our results showed that the yields of all cultivar mixtures were higher than those of their component cultivars in monocropping from 2017 to 2020. In particular, the grain yields of mixture-4 and mixture-8 were significantly increased by 7.37% and 5.94% in the drier years (2017 and 2019), compared with that of the highest yield of local cultivar (LY502). From 2017 to 2020, yield components in wheat mixed cropping had synergetic effects that could offset the tradeoffs among them and obtained an optimized combination at population level. Moreover, the yield stability of all mixtures was higher than the weighted means of monocultures averaged across the four years. The cultivation of mixtures of wheat cultivars effectively alleviated the negative effect of high temperature stress on 1000-grain weight, and improved grain water use efficiency in the drier years. Our findings showed that enhancing wheat genetic diversity at population level can effectively promote grain yield under drought and high temperature, which can be considered as an ecological approach to cope with global climate change towards food security. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T17:41:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1c7b094f6f3544279abd0e033323afe1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1439-1791 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T17:41:22Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Basic and Applied Ecology |
| spelling | doaj.art-1c7b094f6f3544279abd0e033323afe12023-08-04T05:46:45ZengElsevierBasic and Applied Ecology1439-17912023-06-01691325Wheat cultivar mixtures increase grain yield under varied climate conditionsXiang Kong0Li Li1Peng Peng2Kunpu Zhang3Zhengjiang Hu4Xijiu Wang5Guishen Zhao6College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, ChinaInternational Ecosystem Management Partnership, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100102, ChinaCollege of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, ChinaThe State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome Engineering, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, ChinaBureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Huantai County 256400, ChinaBureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Huantai County 256400, ChinaCollege of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China; Corresponding author.Scaling current cereal production to meet the globally increasing food demand will be a challenge under climate change. Previous studies have shown that crop diversification, such as intercropping, can increase crop yield, stability, resource-use efficiency and resistance to both biotic and abiotic stresses in agroecosystems. However, more evidence is needed to explain the influence of inter-annual climate variations on crop yield in the context of genetic diversity. Here, we conducted a field experiment over four years in the North China Plain to test the effect of genetic diversity on yield under varied climate conditions. We compared the performance of eight winter wheat cultivars in monocropping with that of mixed cropping of two (mixture-2), four (mixture-4), and eight (mixture-8) cultivars. Our results showed that the yields of all cultivar mixtures were higher than those of their component cultivars in monocropping from 2017 to 2020. In particular, the grain yields of mixture-4 and mixture-8 were significantly increased by 7.37% and 5.94% in the drier years (2017 and 2019), compared with that of the highest yield of local cultivar (LY502). From 2017 to 2020, yield components in wheat mixed cropping had synergetic effects that could offset the tradeoffs among them and obtained an optimized combination at population level. Moreover, the yield stability of all mixtures was higher than the weighted means of monocultures averaged across the four years. The cultivation of mixtures of wheat cultivars effectively alleviated the negative effect of high temperature stress on 1000-grain weight, and improved grain water use efficiency in the drier years. Our findings showed that enhancing wheat genetic diversity at population level can effectively promote grain yield under drought and high temperature, which can be considered as an ecological approach to cope with global climate change towards food security.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179123000129Winter wheatGenetic diversityClimate changeYieldComplexity |
| spellingShingle | Xiang Kong Li Li Peng Peng Kunpu Zhang Zhengjiang Hu Xijiu Wang Guishen Zhao Wheat cultivar mixtures increase grain yield under varied climate conditions Basic and Applied Ecology Winter wheat Genetic diversity Climate change Yield Complexity |
| title | Wheat cultivar mixtures increase grain yield under varied climate conditions |
| title_full | Wheat cultivar mixtures increase grain yield under varied climate conditions |
| title_fullStr | Wheat cultivar mixtures increase grain yield under varied climate conditions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Wheat cultivar mixtures increase grain yield under varied climate conditions |
| title_short | Wheat cultivar mixtures increase grain yield under varied climate conditions |
| title_sort | wheat cultivar mixtures increase grain yield under varied climate conditions |
| topic | Winter wheat Genetic diversity Climate change Yield Complexity |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179123000129 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xiangkong wheatcultivarmixturesincreasegrainyieldundervariedclimateconditions AT lili wheatcultivarmixturesincreasegrainyieldundervariedclimateconditions AT pengpeng wheatcultivarmixturesincreasegrainyieldundervariedclimateconditions AT kunpuzhang wheatcultivarmixturesincreasegrainyieldundervariedclimateconditions AT zhengjianghu wheatcultivarmixturesincreasegrainyieldundervariedclimateconditions AT xijiuwang wheatcultivarmixturesincreasegrainyieldundervariedclimateconditions AT guishenzhao wheatcultivarmixturesincreasegrainyieldundervariedclimateconditions |