Drought adaptation of stay-green sorghum is associated with canopy development, leaf anatomy, root growth, and water uptake

Stay-green sorghum plants exhibit greener leaves and stems during the grain-filling period under water-limited conditions compared with their senescent counterparts, resulting in increased grain yield, grain mass, and lodging resistance. Stay-green has been mapped to a number of key chromosomal regions, including Stg1, Stg2, Stg3, and Stg4, but the functions of these individual quantitative trait loci (QTLs) remain unclear. The objective of this study was to show how positive effects of Stg QTLs on grain yield under drought can be explained as emergent consequences of their effects on temporal and spatial water-use patterns that result from changes in leaf-area dynamics. A set of four Stg near-isogenic lines (NILs) and their recurrent parent were grown in a range of field and semicontrolled experiments in southeast Queensland, Australia. These studies showed that the four Stg QTLs regulate canopy size by: (1) reducing tillering via increased size of lower leaves, (2) constraining the size of the upper leaves; and (3) in some cases, decreasing the number of leaves per culm. In addition, they variously affect leaf anatomy and root growth. The multiple pathways by which Stg QTLs modulate canopy development can result in considerable developmental plasticity. The reduction in canopy size associated with Stg QTLs reduced pre-flowering water demand, thereby increasing water availability during grain filling and, ultimately, grain yield. The generic physiological mechanisms underlying the stay-green trait suggest that similar Stg QTLs could enhance post-anthesis drought adaptation in other major cereals such as maize, wheat, and rice.

Weed–pathogen interactions and elevated CO2: growth changes in favour of the biological control agent

In this study, we used Parthenium hysterophorus and one of its biological control agents, the winter rust (Puccinia abrupta var. partheniicola) as a model system to investigate how the weed may respond to infection under a climate change scenario involving an elevated atmospheric CO2 (550 μmol mol−1) concentration. Under such a scenario, P. hysterophorus plants grew significantly taller (52%) and produced more biomass (55%) than under the ambient atmospheric CO2 concentration (380 μmol mol−1). Following winter rust infection, biomass production was reduced by 17% under the ambient and by 30% under the elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration. The production of branches and leaf area was significantly increased by 62% and 120%, under the elevated as compared with ambient CO2 concentration, but unaffected by rust infection under either condition. The photosynthesis and water use efficiency (WUE) of P. hysterophorus plants were increased by 94% and 400%, under the elevated as compared with the ambient atmospheric CO2 concentration. However, in the rust-infected plants, the photosynthesis and WUE decreased by 18% and 28%, respectively, under the elevated CO2 and were unaffected by the ambient atmospheric CO2 concentration. The results suggest that although P. hysterophorus will benefit from a future climate involving an elevation of the atmospheric CO2 concentration, it is also likely that the winter rust will perform more effectively as a biological control agent under these same conditions.

Weed growth and crop yield loss in wheat as influenced by row spacing and weed emergence times

Reducing crop row spacing and delaying time of weed emergence may provide crops a competitive edge over weeds. Field experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of crop row spacing (11, 15, and 23-cm) and weed emergence time (0, 20, 35, 45, 55, and 60 days after wheat emergence; DAWE) on Galium aparine and Lepidium sativum growth and wheat yield losses. Season-long weed-free and crop-free treatments were also established to compare wheat yield and weed growth, respectively. Row spacing and weed emergence time significantly affected the growth of both weed species and wheat grain yields. For both weed species, the maximum plant height, shoot biomass, and seed production were observed in the crop-free plots, and delayed emergence decreased these variables. In weed-crop competition plots, maximum weed growth was observed when weeds emerged simultaneously with the crop in rows spaced 23-cm apart. Less growth of both weed species was observed in narrow row spacing (11-cm) of wheat as compared with wider rows (15 and 23-cm). These weed species produced less than 5 seeds plant-1 in 11-cm wheat rows when they emerged at 60 DAWE. Presence of weeds in the crop especially at early stages was devastating for wheat yields. Therefore, maximum grain yield (4.91tha-1) was recorded in the weed-free treatment at 11-cm row spacing. Delay in time of weed emergence and narrow row spacing reduced weed growth and seed production and enhanced wheat grain yield, suggesting that these strategies could contribute to weed management in wheat.

Agronomic indices, growth, yield-contributing traits, and yield of dry-seeded rice under varying herbicides

Dry-seeded rice (DSR) is an emerging resource-conserving technology in many Asian countries, but weeds remain the major threat to the production of DSR systems. A field study was conducted in 2012 and 2013 at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Los Baños, Philippines, to evaluate the performance of sole and sequential applications of preemergence (oxadiazon and pendimethalin), early postemergence (butachlor + propanil and thiobencarb + 2,4-D), and late postemergence herbicides (bispyribac-sodium and fenoxaprop + ethoxysulfuron) with different modes of action in comparison to manual weeding in DSR. The sequential applications of all preemergence and postemergence herbicides reduced weed density and biomass by 80–100% compared to the nontreated plots. The sole application of postemergence herbicides reduced weed density by only 44–54% and weed biomass by 51–61%, whereas oxadiazon alone reduced weed density and biomass by 96–100%. All herbicide treatments and manual weeding significantly affected tiller number, biomass, crop growth rate, agronomic indices, yield-contributing parameters (panicle density and filled grains), and yield (biological and grain) of rice. The highest grain yield was obtained in the manually weeded plots (5.9–6.1 t ha−1) and the plots treated with oxadiazon alone (5.4–5.6 t ha−1) and oxadiazon followed by postemergence herbicides (5.2–5.8 t ha−1). The lowest paddy yield (0.22 t ha−1) was achieved in the nontreated plots followed by the plots treated with the sole application of bispyribac-sodium and fenoxaprop + ethoxysulfuron. The results suggest that oxadiazon is the best broad-spectrum and economically effective herbicide when applied alone or in combination with other effective postemergence herbicides with different modes of action, depending on the weed species present in the field.

Growth analysis and biomass partitioning of Cyperus iria in response to rice planting density and nitrogen rate

Cyperus iria is a weed of rice with widespread occurrence throughout the world. Because of concerns about excessive and injudicious use of herbicides, cultural weed management approaches that are safe and economical are needed. Developing such approaches will require a better understanding of weed biology and ecology, as well as of weed response to increases in crop density and nutrition. Knowledge of the effects of nitrogen (N) fertilizer on crop-weed competitive interactions could also help in the development of integrated weed management strategies. The present study was conducted in a screenhouse to determine the effects of rice planting density (0, 5, 10, and 20 plants pot−1) and N rate (0, 50, 100, and 150 kg ha−1) on the growth of C. iria. Tiller number per plant decreased by 73–88%, leaf number by 85–94%, leaf area by 85–98%, leaf biomass by 92–99%, and inflorescence biomass by 96–99% when weed plants were grown at 20 rice plants pot−1 (i.e., 400 plants m−2) compared with weed plants grown alone. All of these parameters increased when N rates were increased. On average, weed biomass increased by 118–389% and rice biomass by 121–275% with application of 50–150 kg N ha−1, compared to control. Addition of N favored weed biomass production relative to rice biomass. Increased N rates reduced the root-to-shoot weight ratio of C. iria. Rice interference reduced weed growth and biomass and completely suppressed C. iria when no N was applied at high planting densities (i.e., 20 plants pot−1). The weed showed phenotypic plasticity in response to N application, and the addition of N increased the competitive ability of the weed over rice at densities of 5 and 10 rice plants pot−1 compared with 20 plants pot−1. The results of the present study suggest that high rice density (i.e., 400 plants m−2) can help suppress C. iria growth even at high N rates (150 kg ha−1).