Effect of Drought on Agronomic Traits of Rice and Wheat: A Meta-Analysis

Drought has been one of the most important limiting factors for crop production, which deleteriously affects food security worldwide. The main objective of the present study was to quantitatively assess the effect of drought on the agronomic traits (e.g., plant height, biomass, yield, and yield components) of rice and wheat in combination with several moderators (e.g., drought stress intensity, rooting environment, and growth stage) using a meta-analysis study. The database was created from 55 published studies on rice and 60 published studies on wheat. The results demonstrated that drought decreased the agronomic traits differently between rice and wheat among varying growth stages. Wheat and rice yields decreased by 27.5% and 25.4%, respectively. Wheat grown in pots showed greater decreases in agronomic traits than those grown in the field. Rice showed opposite growing patterns when compared to wheat in rooting environments. The effect of drought on rice increased with plant growth and drought had larger detrimental influences during the reproductive phase (e.g., blooming stage, filling stage, and maturity). However, an exception was found in wheat, which had similar decreased performance during the complete growth cycle. Based on these results, future droughts could produce lower yields of rice and wheat when compared to the current drought.