Identification of Water Use Strategies at Early Growth Stages in Durum Wheat from Shoot Phenotyping and Physiological Measurements.

Abstract

Modern imaging technology provides new approaches to plant phenotyping for traits relevant to crop yield and resource efficiency. Our objective was to investigate water use strategies at early growth stages in durum wheat genetic resources using shoot imaging at the ScreenHouse phenotyping facility combined with physiological measurements. Twelve durum landraces from different pedoclimatic backgrounds were compared to three modern check cultivars in a greenhouse pot experiment under well-watered (75% plant available water, PAW) and drought (25% PAW) conditions. Transpiration rate was analyzed for the underlying main morphological (leaf area duration) and physiological (stomata conductance) factors. Combining both morphological and physiological regulation of transpiration, four distinct water use types were identified. Most landraces had high transpiration rates either due to extensive leaf area (area types) or both large leaf areas together with high stomata conductance (spender types). All modern cultivars were distinguished by high stomata conductance with comparatively compact canopies (conductance types). Only few landraces were water saver types with both small canopy and low stomata conductance. During early growth, genotypes with large leaf area had high dry-matter accumulation under both well-watered and drought conditions compared to genotypes with compact stature. However, high stomata conductance was the basis to achieve high dry matter per unit leaf area, indicating high assimilation capacity as a key for productivity in modern cultivars. We conclude that the identified water use strategies based on early growth shoot phenotyping combined with stomata conductance provide an appropriate framework for targeted selection of distinct pre-breeding material adapted to different types of water limited environments.

Plant phenotyping relevance

シュート画像計測を用いた植物フェノタイピングを生理測定と組み合わせ、水利用戦略の形態・生理形質を抽出することが研究の中心であるため。

Code and data availability

The article describes ScreenHouse imaging phenotyping, gas exchange, and SAS-based statistical analysis of durum wheat water use strategies, but contains no public deposit of phenotype data, images, or analysis code. Supplementary material is referenced only via the article page without explicit dataset/code content,so

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