Wheat morpho‐physiological traits and radiation use efficiency under interactive effects of warming and tillage management

Abstract

Understanding the interactive effects of different warming levels and tillage managements on crop morphological and physiological traits and radiation use efficiency (RUE) is essential for breeding climate‐resilient cultivars. Here, we conducted temperature free‐air controlled enhancement (T‐FACE) experiments on winter wheat during two growth seasons in the North China Plain. The experiments consisted of three warming treatments and two tillage treatments (CT: conventional tillage and NT: no‐tillage). In the normal season, warming had significant positive effects on major morphological and physiological traits and increased significantly RUE of yield (RUEY) and biomass (RUEDM) by 13.3 and 11.3%, 19.3 and 12.4%, 42.3 and 43.7%, respectively, under the treatments of CTT1, CTT2 and NTT1 relative to the control (CTN, NTN). By contrast, in the warmer season, warming had negative effects on leaf width, light extinction coefficient, light‐saturated net photosynthetic rate, aboveground, stems and spike biomass and RUE from anthesis to maturity, and consequently grain yield under conventional tillage, but positive effects under no‐tillage. Our findings bring new insights into the mechanisms on the interactive effects of warming and tillage treatments on wheat growth and productivity; provide valuable information on crop ideotypic traits for breeding climate‐resilient crop cultivars.

Wheat traits and the associated loci conferring radiation use efficiency

“…The next quantum leap in yield will be driven by optimization of the source/sink ratio, which is associated with RUE (Bustos et al., 2013; Li et al., 2021; Miralles & Slafer, 2007). In turn, a higher RUE will increase the total amount of assimilates available for spike growth and to increase the number of grains and TGW (Lynch et al., 2017; Rivera‐Amado et al., 2019).…”

“…During the reproductive stage, the flag leaf is the most significant source organ for synthesis and production, and it is also essential for regulating final plant development and yield formation in cereal crops (Biswal & Kohli, 2013; Tian et al., 2015). Light intercepted by the canopy is another important factor for estimating RUE, which is determined by LAI and the light extinction coefficient (Furbank et al., 2019; Li et al., 2021). Our findings suggest that LAI plays an essential role in RUE (Figure 4a).…”

“…The net photosynthetic rate across the growing season showed a positive relationship with RUE. Future breeding should focus on source enhancement to address the demand for more sinks (Li et al., 2021). The cumulative rate of photosynthesis during the growing season is a fundamental factor determining crop biomass (Parry et al., 2011).…”

Effects of Low Temperature Stress on Source–Sink Organs in Wheat and Phosphorus Mitigation Strategies

“…Every year, breeders work hard to create cultivars that are better adapted to changing climates. The ongoing research work on wheat LTS tolerance mechanism needs to be combined with modern breeding techniques (i.e., fast breeding, space breeding, and CRISPR-Cas9) for the development of efficient and temperature resilient crop varieties (Hristov et al, 2007;Zhao et al, 2020;Li et al, 2021). For efficient utilization of P, more research is needed into the genetic and molecular mechanisms related to LTS.…”

Scaling plant responses to high temperature from cell to ecosystem

“…A full understanding of high temperature effects will require knowledge of how these will interact with other factors. For example, Y. Li, Hou, and Tao (2021) report that production practices such as tillage influence morphological responses during warmer seasons by negatively impacting photosynthetic parameters. L. Li et al (2021) found some influence of drought on high temperature responses and also compensation between above ground and below ground biomass on the ability of the ecosystem under study to act as a CO 2 sink, based on a four‐year field experiment.…”