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Crop-Water Relations: Improving Water Use Efficiency in a Changing Climate

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A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2022) | Viewed by 17494

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Dr. Hao Liu

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Guest Editor

Key Laboratory of Crop Water Use and Regulation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Irrigation Research, Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Xinxiang 453003, China
Interests: water-saving irrigation; evapotranspiration; efficient use of water and fertilizer; crop–water relations; soil water and salt stress; exogenous substances regulating crop water use
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Patrizia Trifilò

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Guest Editor

Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Biologiche, Farmaceutiche ed Ambientali, Università di Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d'Alcontres, 31, 98166 Messina, Italy
Interests: plant hydraulics and its changes in response to environmental stress and growth condition; xylem water transport: dysfunction (xylem embolism) and regulation (hydraulic recovery, ion-mediated enhancing); plant water relations; drought stress; tree mortality in response to climate change

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plants is planning to launch a new Special Issue, entitled "Crop-water relations: improving water use efficiency in a changing climate". Population growth, climate change and other human interferences are putting continuous pressure on global water resources. As a result, the ground water table is depleting day by day and drought stress has placed severe constraints on global agricultural productivity. Increasing drought events and heat waves have affected vegetation physiology, impacting plant–water relations, as well as photosynthesis, carbon allocation and seed germination fate on overall seedling growth and even survival. All this, in turn, has severely impacted agricultural productivity and, according to projections, water use demand will only increase in the future as a consequence of further global warming, higher water scarcity and increases in food demand.

In-depth studies on the drought-triggered physiological mechanisms of crops as a function of water deficit time and intensity are crucial to better understand crop response to drought stress, and are also the theoretical basis for scientific and rational regulation of irrigation water use.

This Special Issue aims to collect studies providing advances in knowledge on crop–water relations under limited water availability and on strategies aiming to achieve sustainable water use, preventing, or at least limiting as much as possible, losses in crop yield. We also welcome manuscripts investigating species-specific resistance mechanisms enhanced by applying exogenous plant biostimulants.

Prof. Dr. Hao Liu
Prof. Dr. Patrizia Trifilò
Guest Editors

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Keywords

water stress
evapotranspiration
plant-water relations
water use efficiency
plant biostimulants
sustainable agriculture

Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 6297 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Infiltration and Water Use Efficiency of Maize Fields with Drip Irrigation and Biodegradable Mulches in the West Liaohe Plain, China

by Yayang Feng, Haibin Shi, Yanhui Jia, Qingfeng Miao, Qiong Jia and Ning Wang

Plants 2023, 12(5), 975; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12050975 - 21 Feb 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1699

Abstract

Biodegradable mulches have the same temperature- and moisture-preservation effects as ordinary plastic mulches before degradation. After degradation, rainwater enters the soil through the damaged parts, improving precipitation utilization. Under drip irrigation with mulching, this study explores precipitation utilization of biodegradable mulches under different precipitation intensities and the effects of different biodegradable mulches on the yield and water use efficiency (WUE) of spring maize in the West Liaohe Plain, China. In this paper, in situ field observation experiments were conducted for three consecutive years from 2016 to 2018. Three types of white degradable mulch films were set up, with induction periods of 60 d (WM60), 80 d (WM80), and 100 d (WM100). Three types of black degradable mulch films were also used, with induction periods of 60 d (BM60), 80 d (BM80), and 100 d (BM100). Precipitation utilization, yield, and WUE under biodegradable mulches were studied, with ordinary plastic mulches (PM) and bare land (CK) set as controls. The results showed that as precipitation increased, the effective infiltration of precipitation decreased first and then increased. When precipitation reached 89.21 mm, plastic film mulching no longer affected precipitation utilization. Under the same precipitation intensity, the precipitation effective infiltration ratio increased as the damage to the biodegradable film increased. Still, the intensity of this increase gradually decreased as the damage increased. The highest yield and WUE were observed for the degradable mulch film with an induction period of 60 days in years with normal rainfall and for the degradable mulch film with an induction period of 100 days in dry years. In the West Liaohe Plain, maize planted under film receives drip irrigation. We recommend that growers select a degradable mulch film with a degradation rate of 36.64% and an induction period of approximately 60 days in years with normal rainfall, and a degradable mulch film with an induction period of 100 days in dry years. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Crop-Water Relations: Improving Water Use Efficiency in a Changing Climate)

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21 pages, 4873 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatio-Temporal Distribution Characteristics and Driving Factors of Main Grain Crop Water Productivity in the Yellow River Basin

by Yan Zhang, Feiyu Wang, Zhenjie Du, Ming Dou, Zhijie Liang, Yun Gao and Ping Li

Plants 2023, 12(3), 580; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12030580 - 28 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1630

Abstract

To reveal the relationship between agricultural water resource consumption and grain production in the Yellow River Basin, the irrigation water productivity (WPI), crop water productivity (WPC), total inflow water productivity (WPT), and eleven influencing factors were selected. The spatial and temporal distribution characteristics and driving factors of water productivity of the main crops in the Yellow River Basin were analyzed with the spatial autocorrelation analysis, grey correlation analysis, sensitivity analysis, and relative contribution rate. The results showed that the minimum mean values of WPI, WPC, and WPT were 0.22, 0.35, and 0.18 kg/m³ in Qinghai, respectively, the maximum mean value of WPI was 2.11 kg/m³ in Henan, and the maximum mean values of WPC and WPT were 0.71 and 0.61 kg/m³ in Shandong, respectively. The changing trends in WPI and WPT in Qinghai and in WPC in Shandong were insignificant, whereas the WPI, WPC, and WPT in other provinces showed a significant increasing trend. Water productivity displayed a certain spatial clustering feature in the Yellow River Basin in different years, such as a high-high (H-H) aggregation in Henan in 2005, and an H-H aggregation in Shanxi in 2015 for WPI. The water productivity had a significant positive correlation with the consumption of chemical fertilizer with a 100% effective component (CFCEC), effective irrigated area (EIA), plastic film used for agriculture (PFUA), and total power of agricultural machinery (AMTP), while it had a significant negative correlation with the persons engaged in rural areas (PERA). There was a large grey correlation degree between the water productivity and the average annual precipitation (AAP), CFCEC, PFUA, consumption of chemical pesticides (CFC), and AMTP in the Yellow River Basin, but their sensitivity was relatively small. The main driving factors were EIA (8.98%), agricultural water (AW, 15.55%), AMTP (12.64%), CFCEC (12.06%), and CPC (9.77%) for WPI; AMTP (16.46%), CFCEC (13.25%), average annual evaporation (AAE, 12.94%), EIA (10.49%), and PERA (10.19%) for WPC; and EIA (14.26%), AMTP (13.38%), AAP (12.30%), CFCEC (10.49%), and PFUA (9.69%) for WPT in the Yellow River Basin. The results can provide support for improving the utilization efficiency of agricultural water resources, optimizing the allocation of water resources, and implementing high-quality agricultural developments in the Yellow River Basin. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Crop-Water Relations: Improving Water Use Efficiency in a Changing Climate)

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15 pages, 1696 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Rootstocks Comparison in Grafted Watermelon under Water Deficit: Effects on the Fruit Quality and Yield

by Carolina Morales, Camilo Riveros-Burgos, Felipe Espinoza Seguel, Carlos Maldonado, Jacob Mashilo, Catalina Pinto and Rodrigo Iván Contreras-Soto

Plants 2023, 12(3), 509; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12030509 - 22 Jan 2023

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2849

Abstract

Drought is widely recognized as one of the most significant agricultural constraints worldwide. A strategy to avoid the adverse effects of drought on crops is to cultivate high-yielding varieties by grafting them onto drought-tolerant rootstocks with a differentiated root system. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate fruit yield and quality, root system architecture, and water productivity of watermelon grafted onto Lagenaria siceraria rootstocks. To do so, a commercial watermelon cultivar “Santa Amelia” [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.)] was grafted onto five L. siceraria rootstocks: ‘Illapel’, ‘Osorno’, ‘BG-48’, ‘GC’, and ‘Philippines’, which were grown under three irrigation treatments (100%, 75%, and 50% of evapotranspiration). The comparison of the L. siceraria rootstocks in the irrigation treatments demonstrated no significant effect on watermelon fruit quality parameters. The rootstocks ‘Illapel’, ‘Osorno’, and ‘GC’ significantly improved the fruit number and yield (total fruit weight) under water deficit. Similarly, ‘Illapel’, ‘Osorno’, and ‘GC’ consistently showed statistical differences for root system architecture traits compared to ‘BG-48’ and ‘Philippines’. Based on these results, we concluded that the used L. siceraria rootstocks did not affect the fruit yield and quality of grafted watermelon under water deficit. This study may help adjust the amount of applied water for watermelon production where L. siceraria rootstocks are utilized. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Crop-Water Relations: Improving Water Use Efficiency in a Changing Climate)

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19 pages, 3573 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Water Stress and Shading on Lime Yield and Quality

by Ana Belén Mira-García, Wenceslao Conejero, Juan Vera and María Carmen Ruiz-Sánchez

Plants 2023, 12(3), 503; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12030503 - 21 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2077

Abstract

The aim of this study was to test the combined effect of water stress and cropping system on yield and fruit quality in Bearss lime trees. For this purpose, two irrigation treatments were applied during stage II of fruit growth: control (well irrigated, automatically managed by soil water content sensors) and stress (non-irrigated), both under open-field and shaded conditions. Soil water status was assessed by determining soil water content and plant water status by measuring stem water potential (Ψ_stem), stomatal conductance (g_s), and net photosynthesis (P_n). Yield parameters (kg and the number of fruits per tree and fresh mass per fruit) and fruit quality were assessed on two harvest dates. In addition, on the second harvest date, the content of metabolites and nutrients in the lime juice was analyzed. The results showed that soil water deficit induced 35% lower g_s values in open-field than in shaded conditions. The highest kg and the number of fruits per tree were observed in the shaded system, especially on the first harvest date. The lowest yield was observed in stressed trees grown without netting. Slightly higher fresh mass and equatorial diameter were observed in shaded fruits than in open-field fruit. Soil water deficit increased fruit total soluble solids and decreased juice content, especially in open-field trees. Shaded conditions made the lime trees more resilient to soil water deficit, which led to higher yields and better external fruit quality traits. In addition, fruit precocity was significantly higher in the shaded system. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Crop-Water Relations: Improving Water Use Efficiency in a Changing Climate)

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17 pages, 1813 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Acute and Rapid Response of Melissa officinalis and Mentha spicata to Saline Reclaimed Water in Terms of Water Relations, Hormones, Amino Acids and Plant Oxylipins

by María José Gómez-Bellot, Beatriz Lorente, Sonia Medina, Ángel Gil-Izquierdo, Thierry Durand, Jean-Marie Galano, Sergio Vicente-Sánchez, María Fernanda Ortuño and María Jesús Sánchez-Blanco

Plants 2022, 11(24), 3427; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11243427 - 8 Dec 2022

Viewed by 1414

Abstract

The use of reclaimed water is considered an efficient tool for agricultural irrigation; however, the high salinity associated to this water could compromise plant quality and yields. Balm and spearmint plants were submitted for 15 days to three irrigation treatments in a controlled chamber: control with EC: 1.2 dS m⁻¹ (control), reclaimed water from secondary effluent (EC: 1.6 dS m⁻¹) (S) and water from secondary effluent with brine (EC: 4.4 dS m⁻¹) (SB). The plant water status, stomatal and hormonal regulation, nutritional response, concentration of amino acids and plant oxidative stress-based markers, as well as growth were evaluated. Both species irrigated with saline reclaimed water reduced leaf water potential and gas exchange in comparison with control plants, following 2 days of exposure to irrigation treatments. Nevertheless, spearmint plants recovered photosynthetic activity from the seventh day onwards, maintaining growth. This was attributed to hormonal changes and a greater accumulation of some amino acids and some plant oxylipins (phytoprostanes) in comparison to balm plants, which contributed to the improvement in the organoleptic and health-promoting properties of spearmint. A longer irrigation period with saline reclaimed water would be necessary to assess whether the quality of both species, especially spearmint, could further improve without compromising their growth. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Crop-Water Relations: Improving Water Use Efficiency in a Changing Climate)

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15 pages, 3215 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Plant Growth Regulators on Cotton Seedling Root Growth Parameters and Enzyme Activity

by Zhenxi Cao, Xingpeng Wang and Yang Gao

Plants 2022, 11(21), 2964; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11212964 - 3 Nov 2022

Viewed by 2184

Abstract

It is well known that the survival rate of cotton seedlings is low, and the growth and development status at this stage is crucial to improve productivity. Plant hormones are important factors that promote the growth and development of cotton seedlings. Growth regulators have the same function as plant hormones. The purpose of this research is to explore the effects of different concentrations of growth regulators on cotton root morphological parameters and enzyme activities, and to find suitable plant growth regulators and their optimal concentrations to improve the growth of the cotton seedling root system. Three cotton varieties, “Zhongmian 619” (Z619), “Xinluzao 27” (Z27), and “Xinluzao 39” (Z39), and three growth regulators, gibberellin (GA₃), salicylic acid (SA), and paclobutrazol (PP₃₃₃), at three concentrations were used in our experiment. In Z619 and Z27, 0.050 mg/L GA₃ significantly increased the total root length. Similarly, 0.010 mmol/L SA significantly increased the root growth parameters of Z619 and Z39. In Z619, 0.1 mg/L PP₃₃₃ significantly increased the total root length and total surface area and reduced the average root diameter. For all three cotton varieties, 0.050 mg/L GA₃ increased peroxidase (POD) activity in the roots. In Z27 and Z39, 0.80 mg/L GA₃ increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in the roots. All SA concentrations increased SOD activity in roots of Z619 and Z27; 0.10 mg/L PP₃₃₃ significantly increased SOD and POD activities in the roots of Z619 and significantly increased SOD activity in Z27. Principal component analysis indicated that 0.10 mmol/L SA was the optimal treatment for promoting the development of the roots of Z619 and 0.050 mmol/L SA was the optimal treatment for promoting the development of the roots of Z27 and Z39. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Crop-Water Relations: Improving Water Use Efficiency in a Changing Climate)

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14 pages, 2386 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Performance of the Improved Priestley-Taylor Model for Simulating Evapotranspiration of Greenhouse Tomato at Different Growth Stages

by Xuewen Gong, Guokui Bo, Hao Liu, Jiankun Ge, Xiaoming Li and Shikai Gao

Plants 2022, 11(21), 2956; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11212956 - 2 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1479

Abstract

Mastering crop evapotranspiration (ET) and improving the accuracy of ET simulation is critical for optimizing the irrigation schedule and saving water resources, particularly for crops cultivated in a greenhouse. Taking greenhouse-grown tomato under drip irrigation as an example, two weighing lysimeters were used to monitor ET at two seasons (2019 and 2020), whilst meteorological factors inside the greenhouse were measured using an automatic weather station. Then the path analysis approach was employed to determine the main environmental control factors of ET. On this basis, an improved Priestley-Taylor (IPT) model was developed to simulate tomato ET at different growth stages by considering the influence of environmental changes on model parameters (e.g., leaf senescence coefficient, temperature constraint coefficient and soil evaporative water stress coefficient). Results showed that the average daily ET varied from 0.06 to 6.57 mm d⁻¹, which were ~0.98, ~2.58, ~3.70 and ~3.32 mm/d at the initial, development, middle and late stages, respectively, with the total ET over the whole growth stage of ~333.0 mm. Net solar radiation (R_n) and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) were the direct influencing factors of ET, whereas air temperature (T_a) was the limiting factor and wind speed (u₂) had a little influence on ET. The order of correlation coefficients between meteorological factors and ET at two seasons was R_n > VPD > T_a > u₂. The IPT model can accurately simulate ET in hourly and daily scales. The root mean square error of hourly ET at four stages changed from 0.002 to 0.08 mm h⁻¹ and daily ET varied from 0.54 to 0.57 mm d⁻¹. The IPT coefficient was close to the recommended PT coefficient (1.26) when the average T_a approaches 26 °C and LAI approaches 2.5 cm² cm⁻² in greenhouse conditions. Our results can provide a theoretical basis for further optimization of greenhouse crop irrigation schedules and improvement of water use efficiency. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Crop-Water Relations: Improving Water Use Efficiency in a Changing Climate)

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17 pages, 4373 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Prediction of Greenhouse Tomato Crop Evapotranspiration Using XGBoost Machine Learning Model

by Jiankun Ge, Linfeng Zhao, Zihui Yu, Huanhuan Liu, Lei Zhang, Xuewen Gong and Huaiwei Sun

Plants 2022, 11(15), 1923; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11151923 - 25 Jul 2022

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 2995

Abstract

Crop evapotranspiration estimation is a key parameter for achieving functional irrigation systems. However, ET is difficult to directly measure, so an ideal solution was to develop a simulation model to obtain ET. There are many ways to calculate ET, most of which use models based on the Penman–Monteith equation, but they are often inaccurate when applied to greenhouse crop evapotranspiration. The use of machine learning models to predict ET has gradually increased, but research into their application for greenhouse crops is relatively rare. We used experimental data for three years (2019–2021) to model the effects on ET of eight meteorological factors (net solar radiation (R_n), mean temperature (T_a), minimum temperature (T_amin), maximum temperature (T_amax), relative humidity (RH), minimum relative humidity (RH_min), maximum relative humidity (RH_max), and wind speed (V)) using a greenhouse drip irrigated tomato crop ET prediction model (XGBR-ET) that was based on XGBoost regression (XGBR). The model was compared with seven other common regression models (linear regression (LR), support vector regression (SVR), K neighbors regression (KNR), random forest regression (RFR), AdaBoost regression (ABR), bagging regression (BR), and gradient boosting regression (GBR)). The results showed that R_n, T_a, and T_amax were positively correlated with ET, and that T_amin, RH, RH_min, RH_max, and V were negatively correlated with ET. R_n had the greatest correlation with ET (r = 0.89), and V had the least correlation with ET (r = 0.43). The eight models were ordered, in terms of prediction accuracy, XGBR-ET > GBR-ET > SVR-ET > ABR-ET > BR-ET > LR-ET > KNR-ET > RFR-ET. The statistical indicators mean square error (0.032), root mean square error (0.163), mean absolute error (0.132), mean absolute percentage error (4.47%), and coefficient of determination (0.981) of XGBR-ET showed that XGBR-ET modeled daily ET for greenhouse tomatoes well. The parameters of the XGBR-ET model were ablated to show that the order of importance of meteorological factors on XGBR-ET was R_n > RH > RH_min> T_amax> RH_max> T_amin> T_a> V. Selecting R_n, RH, RH_min, T_amax, and T_amin as model input variables using XGBR ensured the prediction accuracy of the model (mean square error 0.047). This study has value as a reference for the simplification of the calculation of evapotranspiration for drip irrigated greenhouse tomato crops using a novel application of machine learning as a basis for an effective irrigation program. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Crop-Water Relations: Improving Water Use Efficiency in a Changing Climate)

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