Crop variety mixtures have the potential to increase yield stability in highly variable and unpredictable environments, yet knowledge of the specific mechanisms underlying enhanced yield stability has been limited. Ecological processes in genetically diverse crops were investigated by conducting field trials with winter barley varieties (Hordeum vulgare), grown as monocultures or as three-way mixtures in fungicide treated and untreated plots at three sites. Mixtures achieved yields comparable to the best performing monocultures whilst enhancing yield stability despite being subject to multiple predicted and unpredicted abiotic and biotic stresses including brown rust (Puccinia hordei) and lodging. There was compensation through competitive release because the most competitive variety overyielded in mixtures thereby compensating for less competitive varieties. Facilitation was also identified as an important ecological process within mixtures by reducing lodging. This study indicates that crop varietal mixtures have the capacity to stabilise productivity even when environmental conditions and stresses are not predicted in advance. Varietal mixtures provide a means of increasing crop genetic diversity without the need for extensive breeding efforts. They may confer enhanced resilience to environmental stresses and thus be a desirable component of future cropping systems for sustainable arable farming.
Background and AimsPlant genotypic mixtures have the potential to increase yield stability in variable, often unpredictable environments, yet knowledge of the specific mechanisms underlying enhanced yield stability remains limited. Field studies are constrained by environmental conditions which cannot be fully controlled and thus reproduced. A suitable model system would allow reproducible experiments on processes operating within crop genetic mixtures.MethodsPhenotypically dissimilar genotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana were grown in monocultures and mixtures under high levels of competition for abiotic resources. Seed production, flowering time and rosette size were recorded.Key ResultsMixtures achieved high yield stability across environments through compensatory interactions. Compensation was greatest when plants were under high levels of heat and nutrient stress. Competitive ability and mixture performance were predictable from above-ground phenotypic traits even though below-ground competition appeared to be more intense.ConclusionsThis study indicates that the mixing ability of plant genotypes can be predicted from their phenotypes expressed in a range of relevant environments, and implies that a phenotypic screen of genotypes could improve the selection of suitable components of genotypic mixtures in agriculture intended to be resilient to environmental stress.
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