Drought response of water-conserving and non-conserving spring barley cultivars

Mercy Appiah; Issaka Abdulai; Alan H Schulman; Menachem Moshelion; Elvira S Dewi; Agata Daszkowska-Golec; Gennady Bracho-Mujica; Reimund P Rötter

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1247853

Drought response of water-conserving and non-conserving spring barley cultivars

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Oct 24:14:1247853. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1247853. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Mercy Appiah¹, Issaka Abdulai¹, Alan H Schulman^{2

3}, Menachem Moshelion⁴, Elvira S Dewi^{1

5}, Agata Daszkowska-Golec⁶, Gennady Bracho-Mujica¹, Reimund P Rötter^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Crop Sciences, Tropical Plant Production and Agricultural Systems Modelling (TROPAGS), University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
² Production Systems, Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE), Helsinki, Finland.
³ Institute of Biotechnology and Viikki Plant Science Centre, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
⁴ Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel.
⁵ Department of Agroecotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Malikussaleh, Aceh Utara, Indonesia.
⁶ Institute of Biology, Biotechnology and Environmental Protection, University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland.
⁷ Centre for Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use (CBL), University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.

Abstract

Introduction: Breeding barley cultivars adapted to drought requires in-depth knowledge on physiological drought responses.

Methods: We used a high-throughput functional phenotyping platform to examine the response of four high-yielding European spring barley cultivars to a standardized drought treatment imposed around flowering.

Results: Cv. Chanell showed a non-conserving water-use behavior with high transpiration and maximum productivity under well-watered conditions but rapid transpiration decrease under drought. The poor recovery upon re-irrigation translated to large yield losses. Cv. Baronesse showed the most water-conserving behavior, with the lowest pre-drought transpiration and the most gradual transpiration reduction under drought. Its good recovery (resilience) prevented large yield losses. Cv. Formula was less conserving than cv. Baronesse and produced low yet stable yields. Cv. RGT's dynamic water use with high transpiration under ample water supply and moderate transpiration decrease under drought combined with high resilience secured the highest and most stable yields.

Discussion: Such a dynamic water-use behavior combined with higher drought resilience and favorable root traits could potentially create an ideotype for intermediate drought. Prospective studies will examine these results in field experiments and will use the newly gained understanding on water use in barley to improve process descriptions in crop simulation models to support crop model-aided ideotype design.

Keywords: conserving and non-conserving water-use behavior; drought ideotype; drought resilience; intermediate drought; spring barley; water-use efficiency; yield stability.

Grants and funding

MA, AD-G, AS, GB-M, and RR received funding from the project BARISTA (Advanced tools for breeding BARley for Intensive and SusTainable Agriculture under climate change scenarios), which was carried out under the ERA-NET Cofund SusCrop (Grant N°771134), being part of the Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE-JPI). AS and RR also received funding from project BRACE (Barley Responses and Adaptation to Changing Environments) carried out under the ERA-NET Cofund SusCrop being part of FACCE-JPI (Grant No. 771134). The work of MM was funded by the Israel Innovation Authority (grant nos. 0002122 and 001897).