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Higher sowing density of pearl millet increases productivity and water use efficiency in high evaporative demand seasons

INTRODUCTION: Pearlmillet is themain subsistence crop for smallholder farmers systemswhere it is grown at low plant density. Intensifying pearl millet cultivation could boost productivity although it may have trade-offs. Increasing planting density would indeed increase the leaf area and the related...

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Autores principales: Pilloni, Raphaël, Faye, Aliou, Kakkera, Aparna, Kholova, Jana, Badji, Romiel, Faye, Coumba, Vadez, Vincent
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9773418/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36570954
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.1035181
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author Pilloni, Raphaël
Faye, Aliou
Kakkera, Aparna
Kholova, Jana
Badji, Romiel
Faye, Coumba
Vadez, Vincent
author_facet Pilloni, Raphaël
Faye, Aliou
Kakkera, Aparna
Kholova, Jana
Badji, Romiel
Faye, Coumba
Vadez, Vincent
author_sort Pilloni, Raphaël
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Pearlmillet is themain subsistence crop for smallholder farmers systemswhere it is grown at low plant density. Intensifying pearl millet cultivation could boost productivity although it may have trade-offs. Increasing planting density would indeed increase the leaf area and the related water budget, whereas a denser canopy could create a more favorable canopymicroclimate to the benefit of the water use efficiency (WUE) of the crops. The first aim of this work was to test the yield response of popular pearlmillet varieties to an increased density and to assess possible genotypic variation in this response. The second aim was to measure the water use and the WUE of the crop in different densities. METHOD: To this end we designed several field and lysimetric experiments To increase the robustness of the results, these trials were carried out in India and Senegal, using two independent sets of genotypes adapted to both sites. RESULTS: In the field, the higher sowing density significantly increased yield in all genotypes when trials were carried out in high evaporative demand conditions. There was no genotype x density interaction in these trials, suggesting no genotypic variation in the response to density increase. The high-density treatment also decreased the vapor pressure deficit (VPD) in the canopies, both in the field and in the lysimeter experiments. In the lysimeter trials, although the higher density treatment increased water use, the resulting increase in biomass was proportionally higher, hence increasingWUE of the crops in all genotypes under high density. The increase in yield under high density was closely related to the increase in WUE, although this link was more tight in the high- than in the low evaporative demand seasons. This confirmed a strong environmental effect on the response to density of all genotypes tested. DISCUSSION: Although they did not open a scope for breeding density tolerant cultivars, these results highlight the possibility to improve pearl millet yield by increasing the density, targeting specifically areas facing high evaporative demand.
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spelling pubmed-97734182022-12-23 Higher sowing density of pearl millet increases productivity and water use efficiency in high evaporative demand seasons Pilloni, Raphaël Faye, Aliou Kakkera, Aparna Kholova, Jana Badji, Romiel Faye, Coumba Vadez, Vincent Front Plant Sci Plant Science INTRODUCTION: Pearlmillet is themain subsistence crop for smallholder farmers systemswhere it is grown at low plant density. Intensifying pearl millet cultivation could boost productivity although it may have trade-offs. Increasing planting density would indeed increase the leaf area and the related water budget, whereas a denser canopy could create a more favorable canopymicroclimate to the benefit of the water use efficiency (WUE) of the crops. The first aim of this work was to test the yield response of popular pearlmillet varieties to an increased density and to assess possible genotypic variation in this response. The second aim was to measure the water use and the WUE of the crop in different densities. METHOD: To this end we designed several field and lysimetric experiments To increase the robustness of the results, these trials were carried out in India and Senegal, using two independent sets of genotypes adapted to both sites. RESULTS: In the field, the higher sowing density significantly increased yield in all genotypes when trials were carried out in high evaporative demand conditions. There was no genotype x density interaction in these trials, suggesting no genotypic variation in the response to density increase. The high-density treatment also decreased the vapor pressure deficit (VPD) in the canopies, both in the field and in the lysimeter experiments. In the lysimeter trials, although the higher density treatment increased water use, the resulting increase in biomass was proportionally higher, hence increasingWUE of the crops in all genotypes under high density. The increase in yield under high density was closely related to the increase in WUE, although this link was more tight in the high- than in the low evaporative demand seasons. This confirmed a strong environmental effect on the response to density of all genotypes tested. DISCUSSION: Although they did not open a scope for breeding density tolerant cultivars, these results highlight the possibility to improve pearl millet yield by increasing the density, targeting specifically areas facing high evaporative demand. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-12-08 /pmc/articles/PMC9773418/ /pubmed/36570954 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.1035181 Text en Copyright © 2022 Pilloni, Faye, Kakkera, Kholova, Badji, Faye and Vadez https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Pilloni, Raphaël
Faye, Aliou
Kakkera, Aparna
Kholova, Jana
Badji, Romiel
Faye, Coumba
Vadez, Vincent
Higher sowing density of pearl millet increases productivity and water use efficiency in high evaporative demand seasons
title Higher sowing density of pearl millet increases productivity and water use efficiency in high evaporative demand seasons
title_full Higher sowing density of pearl millet increases productivity and water use efficiency in high evaporative demand seasons
title_fullStr Higher sowing density of pearl millet increases productivity and water use efficiency in high evaporative demand seasons
title_full_unstemmed Higher sowing density of pearl millet increases productivity and water use efficiency in high evaporative demand seasons
title_short Higher sowing density of pearl millet increases productivity and water use efficiency in high evaporative demand seasons
title_sort higher sowing density of pearl millet increases productivity and water use efficiency in high evaporative demand seasons
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9773418/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36570954
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.1035181
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