Above and below-ground growth, accumulated dry matter and nitrogen remobilization of wheat (Triticum aestivum) genotypes grown in PVC tubes under well- and deficit-watered conditions

R Rustum Zhiipao; Vijay Pooniya; Dinesh Kumar; Niraj Biswakarma; Yashbir Singh Shivay; Anchal Dass; Naresh Kumar Bainsla; Kamlesh K Lakhena; Rakesh K Pandey; Anamika Burman; Arti Bhatia; Ram D Jat; Prabhu Govindasamy; Karivaradharajan Swarnalakshmi; Kajal Das; Ram L Choudhary; Subhash Babu

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1087343

Above and below-ground growth, accumulated dry matter and nitrogen remobilization of wheat (Triticum aestivum) genotypes grown in PVC tubes under well- and deficit-watered conditions

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Mar 7:14:1087343. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1087343. eCollection 2023.

Authors

R Rustum Zhiipao¹, Vijay Pooniya¹, Dinesh Kumar¹, Niraj Biswakarma^{1

2}, Yashbir Singh Shivay¹, Anchal Dass¹, Naresh Kumar Bainsla³, Kamlesh K Lakhena¹, Rakesh K Pandey⁴, Anamika Burman¹, Arti Bhatia⁵, Ram D Jat⁶, Prabhu Govindasamy¹, Karivaradharajan Swarnalakshmi⁷, Kajal Das^{1

8}, Ram L Choudhary^{1

9}, Subhash Babu¹

Affiliations

¹ Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India.
² Agronomy, G.D. Goenka University, Gurugram, Haryana, India.
³ Genetics, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India.
⁴ Plant Physiology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India.
⁵ Environmental Science, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India.
⁶ Agronomy, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCSHAU), Hisar, Haryana, India.
⁷ Microbiology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India.
⁸ ICAR-Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibers, Barrackpore, West Bengal, India.
⁹ ICAR-Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India.

Abstract

The continuing decline in water resources under the ever-changing climate compels us to re-orient our focus to a more sustainable practice. This study investigates the performance of Triticum aestivum wheat genotypes viz. HD-2967, HD-3086, HD-3249, DBW-187, and HD-3226 under well- and deficit-watered conditions for their root-traits, biomass and nitrogen accumulation and remobilization, and water use efficiencies, grown in PVC-tubes. The genotypes HD-2967, HD-3086, HD-3249, DBW-187, and HD-3226 under well-watered (WW) resulted in 36, 35, 38, 33, and 42% more grain yield compared to deficit-watered (DW). Among the genotypes, HD-3249 had the highest grain yield under both well- and deficit-watered conditions. Compared to DW, the WW had 28%, 30%, and 28% greater root length, biomass, and root length density at flowering {102 days (d), Z₆₁}, while among the genotypes, HD-3249 had relatively greater root-traits. At flowering (Z₆₁) and maturity (132 d, Z₈₉), genotypes under WW accumulated 30-46% and 30-53%, respectively greater shoot biomass over the DW. Furthermore, the shoot biomass remobilised for HD-2967, HD-3086, HD-3249, DBW-187, and HD-3226 under the WW was 32, 37, 39, 35, and 35% greater than the DW. The nitrogen partitioning to different plant parts at flowering (Z₆₁) and maturity (Z₈₉) was significantly greater with the WW than with DW. The total nitrogen- remobilized and contribution to grain-N under the WW was 55, 58, 52, 53, 58% and 9, 19, 15, 17, 17% greater than the DW for the genotypes HD-2967, HD-3086, HD-3249, DBW-187, and HD-3226. The irrigation water use efficiency (WUE) at flowering (Z₆₁) was more under the deficit-watered, but the biomass and grain total WUE was improved with the well-watered condition. Hence, it is apparent that proper scheduling of irrigation and N applications, along with the adoption of a genotype suited to a particular environment, will result in better WUE and grain yields, along with better utilization of scarce resources.

Keywords: dry matter accumulation; nitrogen partitioning; root -traits; water use efficiency; wheat genotypes.