Global warming: Antioxidant responses to deal with drought and elevated temperature in<i>Stylosanthes capitata</i>, a forage legume

Under warmer and drier future conditions, global livestock and dairy production are threatened by impacts on the productivity and nutritional quality of pastures.However, morphological and nutritional adjustments within plants in response to warming and drought vary among species and less is known how these relate to production and forage quality. To investigate this, we grew two common pasture species, tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea: grass) and lucerne (Medicago sativa: legume), in a climate-controlled facility, under different temperatures (ambient and elevated) and watering regimes (well-watered and droughted). We found that drought had a strong negative impact on biomass production, morphology and nutritional quality while warming only significantly affected both species when response metrics were considered in concert, although to a lesser degree than the drought. Furthermore, interactions between warming and drought were only seen for lucerne, with a reduction in biomass and an increase in dead material and dry matter. In tall fescue, drought had bigger impacts on nutritional composition than morphological traits, while in lucerne, drought affected all morphological traits and most of the nutritional parameters. These findings suggest that in future climate scenarios, drought may be a stronger driver of changes in the morphology and nutritional composition of pasture grasses and legumes, compared to modest levels of warming.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short‐term drought is a stronger driver of plant morphology and nutritional composition than warming in two common pasture species

Catunda

Churchill

Zhang

et al. 2021

“…However, under field conditions crops are usually subjected to different abiotic stress simultaneously. Recent studies revealed that the responses of forage tropical plants to a combination of different abiotic stresses, such as warming and drought, are unique and cannot be extrapolated from simply studying each of these different stresses applied individually (Barreto et al., 2020; Borjas‐Ventura et al., 2019; Habermann, et al., 2019; Olivera‐Viciedo et al., 2019). Therefore, field and multi‐factor experimental approaches are needed to improve our understanding of plant nutrient dynamics under future climate conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water stress and warming impact nutrient use efficiency of Mombasa grass (Megathyrsus maximus) in tropical conditions

Viciedo

Prado

Martínez

et al. 2020

Temperature and other abiotic factors, such water and nutrient availability, play an important role for plants in response to the changing environments. At this regard, both warming and drought might affect the nutrient use efficiency (NUE) and growth of Megathyrsus maximus a C4 forage grass of high interest for cattle feeding. However, the nutrient requirements of this species under climate change are unknown. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the individual and combined effects of two levels of temperature: ambient and elevated temperature (2°C above ambient temperature), and two levels of soil water availability: irrigated plants and non‐irrigated plants on accumulation of leaf nutrients, NUE and biomass production of M. maximus. Temperature control was performed by a temperature free‐air‐controlled enhancement (T‐FACE) system under field conditions. In general, we observed that warming under well‐irrigated conditions increased the leaf accumulation of most nutrients, improving the NUE of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Cu, Mn and Zn. Plant growth was also enhanced under warming effects, with higher leaf dry mass accumulation and root development. Meanwhile, drought decreased NUE of K, Ca, B and leaf dry biomass, while root growth was stimulated. The combined effects of warming and drought on nutrient accumulation, NUE and plant growth tended to be greater than the individual effects expected from a single factor; thus, warming mitigated the negative impacts of individual drought. In summary, our findings suggest that warming and drought, both as individual and combined factors, will change the nutrient requirements of M. maximus in tropical ecosystems.

“…As the world population is continuously increasing, there is a prospect of global warming due to climate change (Borjas‐Ventura et al., 2020). Besides, the present agricultural activities such as excessive usage of phosphatic fertilizers containing heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, untreated sewage sludge, industrial effluents, etc., are expected to cause pollution and soil degradation (Barrow, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Appraisal for organic amendments and plant growth‐promoting rhizobacteria to enhance crop productivity under drought stress: A review

Ullah

Ditta

Imtiaz

et al. 2021

Plants are sessile organisms, frequently face unfavourable growth conditions such as drought, salinity, chilling, freezing and high‐temperature stresses, inhibiting growth and development, and ultimately reducing crop productivity. Among these stresses, drought stress has been a major challenge for sustainable crop production and a hot area of research under the current climate change scenario. Organic amendments such as biochar (BC) and compost along with plant growth‐promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) could be a sustainable strategy to improve crop growth and productivity under drought stress environment. There are several reports about compost, BC, and PGPR application as a single or combined treatment to enhance crop productivity under drought stress. Compost and BC act as conditioners to improve soil physicochemical and biological properties thereby enhancing water holding capacity (WHC) and nutrient retention and availability to the plants. Both BC and compost also serve as carbon sources and suitable environment for PGPR and endogenous microbes to enhance their growth promotion activities under drought stress. PGPR alleviate drought stress via ACC‐deaminase and P‐solubilizing activities, production of phytohormones, secretion of organic acids, acting as biocontrol agents,etc. In the present review, the individual and combined effect of compost, BC, and PGPR to alleviate drought stress in plants has been critically summarized. Moreover, research gaps and future research directions have been identified and discussed in depth.