High photosynthetic rate and water use efficiency of Miscanthus lutarioriparius characterize an energy crop in the semiarid temperate region

Abstract

The development of second-generation energy crops on marginal land relies on the identification of plants with suitable physiological properties. In this study, we measured and compared leaf photosynthesis and water use efficiency of 22 populations from three Miscanthus species, M. lutarioriparius, M. sacchariflorus, and M. sinensis, planted in two experimental fields located in Qingyang of the Gansu Province (QG) and Jiangxia of the Hubei Province (JH) in China. QG is located in the Loess Plateau, one of the world's most seriously eroded regions particularly abundant in semiarid marginal land. At both locations, M. lutarioriparius produced the highest biomass and had the highest photosynthetic rates (A), with the growing-season average of A reaching nearly 20 lmol m À2 s À1. Native to JH, M. lutarioriparius maintained a relatively high photosynthetic rate into the late growing stage in QG, for example, 15 lmol m À2 s À1 at temperature as low as 11.6°C in October. All three species had higher water use efficiency (WUE) in semiarid QG than in warmer and wetter JH. In the late growing stage of M. lutarioriparius, instantaneous WUE (A/E) of the species nearly tripled in QG comparing to JH. Being able to maintain remarkably high photosynthetic rates when transplanted to a colder and drier location, these M. lutarioriparius populations serve as suitable wild progenitors for energy crop domestication in the Loess Plateau and other areas with the similar climates.

Population transcriptomics reveals a potentially positive role of expression diversity in adaptation

“…These results indicated that the widened ranges of expression levels did not occur randomly across the transcriptome, rather the changes were concentrated on genes most relevant to adaptation in the new stressful environment (Chinnusamy and Zhu ; Walley and Dehesh ; Mirouze and Paszkowski ; Des Marais et al ). The increased expression diversity often coupled with the increased expression levels of these functional categories is consistent with the field experimental results that M. lutarioriparius had substantially improved water use efficiency and produced higher biomass in the much drier and colder domestication site than the control site near its native habitats (Yan et al , ).…”

“…Altitudes, average annual temperature and average annual precipitation in JH and QG were indicated in Figure S1. Because M. lutarioriparius was regarded as one of most promising plant to be domesticated as an energy crop due to its high biomass, high water use efficiency, and capability of sustainable production in marginal land (Liu et al ; Yan et al , ), we only focused on the 14 populations of M. lutarioriparius in this study. From the same 14 populations of M. lutarioriparius , 40 individuals were sampled from each field site in this study (Table S1, Figure S1).…”

Genetic variation and bidirectional gene flow in the riparian plant Miscanthus lutarioriparius, across its endemic range: implications for adaptive potential

“…In conclusion, this study assessed genetic variation and gene flow across M. lutarioriparius populations. Our results provide a genetic basis for the adaptation potential of the species that was revealed by some previous studies (Yan et al ., , ; Xu et al ., ). M. lutarioriparius has a high level of genetic diversity and a low level of genetic differentiation, both of which can enhance the capacity of plants to adapt to changing environments.…”

“…Some recent studies of Miscanthus genetic diversity were carried out, including Miscanthus 9 giganteus, M. sacchariflorus, and Miscanthus sinensis (Chae et al, 2014;Clark et al, 2014Clark et al, , 2015Głowacka et al, 2015). To date, little is known about the genetic diversity of M. lutarioriparius across its distribution range, although it is particularly promising energy crop with high biomass production and water-use effi-ciency, and strong ability to grow in the stressful environments (Sang, 2011;Liu et al, 2012Liu et al, , 2014Yan et al, 2012Yan et al, , 2015Liu & Sang, 2013;Mi et al, 2014;Xu et al, 2015).…”

Atmospheric and Radiometric Correction Algorithms for the Multitemporal Assessment of Grasslands Productivity

“…The variation in biomass production estimation for the period 2010-2014 can be largely explained by changes in vegetation, its growth conditions, and its distribution. As mentioned by Yan et al [76], the growth conditions in semi-arid and arid regions are largely affected by temperature and precipitation. In addition, human activities, such as grazing and farming, importantly affect the vegetation distribution.…”