Water use efficiency and shoot biomass production under water limitation is negatively correlated to the discrimination against 13C in the C3 grasses Dactylis glomerata, Festuca arundinacea and Phalaris arundinacea

• Climate change impacts rainfall patterns which may lead to drought stress in rain-fed agricultural systems. Crops with higher drought tolerance are required on marginal land with low precipitation or on soils with low water retention used for biomass production. It is essential to obtain plant breeding tools, which can identify genotypes with improved drought tolerance and water use efficiency (WOE). In C-3 plant species, the variation in discrimination against C-13(Delta,13C) during photosynthesis has been shown to be a potential indicator for WOE, where discrimination against C-13 and WUE were negatively correlated. The aim of this study was to determine the variation in the discrimination against C-13 between species and cultivars of three perennial C-3 grasses (Dactylis glomerate (cocksfoot), Festuca arundinacea (tall fescue) and Phalaris arundinacea (reed canary grass)) and test the relationships between discrimination against C-13, season-long water use WUEB, shoot and root biomass production in plants grown under well-watered and water-limited conditions. The grasses were grown in the greenhouse and exposed to two irrigation regimes, which corresponded to 25% and 60% water holding capacity, respectively. We found negative relationships between discrimination against C-13 and WUEB and between discrimination against C-13 and shoot biomass production, under both the well-watered and water-limited growth conditions (p < 0.001). Discrimination against C-13 decreased in response to water limitation (p < 0.001). We found interspecific differences in the discrimination against C-13, WUEB, and shoot biomass production, where the cocksfoot cultivars showed lowest and the reed canary grass cultivars highest values of discrimination against C-13. Cocksfoot cultivars also showed highest WUEB, shoot biomass production and potential tolerance to water limitation. We conclude that discrimination against C-13 appears to be a useful indicator, when selecting C-3 grass crops for biomass production under drought conditions. (C) 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Annan biologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Other Biological Topics (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Annan lantbruksvetenskap -- Övrig annan lantbruksvetenskap (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Other Agricultural Sciences -- Other Agricultural Sciences not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)