Realistic Physiological Options to Increase Grain Legume Yield under Drought
Increasing yield resiliency under water deficits remains a high priority for crop improvement. In considering the yield benefit of a plant trait modification, two facts are often overlooked: (1) the total amount of water available to a crop through a growing season ultimately constrains growth and y...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Plants |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/12/17/3137 |
| _version_ | 1797582000656220160 |
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| author | Thomas R. Sinclair Michel E. Ghanem |
| author_facet | Thomas R. Sinclair Michel E. Ghanem |
| author_sort | Thomas R. Sinclair |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Increasing yield resiliency under water deficits remains a high priority for crop improvement. In considering the yield benefit of a plant trait modification, two facts are often overlooked: (1) the total amount of water available to a crop through a growing season ultimately constrains growth and yield cannot exceed what is possible with the limited amount of available water, and (2) soil water content always changes over time, so plant response needs to be considered within a temporally dynamic context of day-to-day variation in soil water status. Many previous evaluations of drought traits have implicitly considered water deficit from a “static” perspective, but while the static approach of stable water deficit treatments is experimentally congruous, the results are not realistic representations of real-world drought conditions, where soil water levels are always changing. No trait always results in a positive response under all drought scenarios. In this paper, we suggest two key traits for improving grain legume yield under water deficit conditions: (1) partial stomata closure at elevated atmospheric vapor pressure deficit that results in soil water conservation, and (2) lessening of the high sensitivity of nitrogen fixation activity to soil drying. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T23:15:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-aa71438ba95442d990d0d97baf433b3b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2223-7747 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T23:15:39Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Plants |
| spelling | doaj.art-aa71438ba95442d990d0d97baf433b3b2023-11-19T08:41:51ZengMDPI AGPlants2223-77472023-08-011217313710.3390/plants12173137Realistic Physiological Options to Increase Grain Legume Yield under DroughtThomas R. Sinclair0Michel E. Ghanem1Crop and Soil Sciences Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7620, USAUMR AGAP Institut, Université de Montpellier, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, F-34398 Montpellier, FranceIncreasing yield resiliency under water deficits remains a high priority for crop improvement. In considering the yield benefit of a plant trait modification, two facts are often overlooked: (1) the total amount of water available to a crop through a growing season ultimately constrains growth and yield cannot exceed what is possible with the limited amount of available water, and (2) soil water content always changes over time, so plant response needs to be considered within a temporally dynamic context of day-to-day variation in soil water status. Many previous evaluations of drought traits have implicitly considered water deficit from a “static” perspective, but while the static approach of stable water deficit treatments is experimentally congruous, the results are not realistic representations of real-world drought conditions, where soil water levels are always changing. No trait always results in a positive response under all drought scenarios. In this paper, we suggest two key traits for improving grain legume yield under water deficit conditions: (1) partial stomata closure at elevated atmospheric vapor pressure deficit that results in soil water conservation, and (2) lessening of the high sensitivity of nitrogen fixation activity to soil drying.https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/12/17/3137grain legumesgrowthlimited transpiration traitnitrogen fixationtranspirationvapor pressure deficit |
| spellingShingle | Thomas R. Sinclair Michel E. Ghanem Realistic Physiological Options to Increase Grain Legume Yield under Drought Plants grain legumes growth limited transpiration trait nitrogen fixation transpiration vapor pressure deficit |
| title | Realistic Physiological Options to Increase Grain Legume Yield under Drought |
| title_full | Realistic Physiological Options to Increase Grain Legume Yield under Drought |
| title_fullStr | Realistic Physiological Options to Increase Grain Legume Yield under Drought |
| title_full_unstemmed | Realistic Physiological Options to Increase Grain Legume Yield under Drought |
| title_short | Realistic Physiological Options to Increase Grain Legume Yield under Drought |
| title_sort | realistic physiological options to increase grain legume yield under drought |
| topic | grain legumes growth limited transpiration trait nitrogen fixation transpiration vapor pressure deficit |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/12/17/3137 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT thomasrsinclair realisticphysiologicaloptionstoincreasegrainlegumeyieldunderdrought AT micheleghanem realisticphysiologicaloptionstoincreasegrainlegumeyieldunderdrought |