Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science最新文献

{"title":"Assessing Salinity, Drought and High Temperature Stress in Maize (Zea mays L.) and Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Varieties: Theoretical Combination as Multifactorial Stress","authors":"Leandris Argentel-Martínez,&nbsp;Ofelda Peñuelas-Rubio,&nbsp;Lorenzo Pérez-López,&nbsp;Jorge González Aguilera,&nbsp;Fábio Steiner,&nbsp;Alan Mario Zuffo,&nbsp;Rafael Felippe Ratke","doi":"10.1111/jac.70001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jac.70001","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Maize and wheat are two important cereal crops for the food security of the world population. However, constant climate change and the intensification of anthropic activities have intensified the emergence of stressful environmental in the various agricultural production systems around the world. Therefore, in this study we evaluate the chlorophyll content, photosynthesis, transpiration and grain yield of maize and wheat crops exposed to soil salinity, drought and high temperatures and determine the damage intensity of these stressing conditions and the theoretical multifactorial damage intensity. Field experiments were conducted during the 2022 and 2023 agricultural seasons in the Yaqui Valley, Sonora, Mexico. The treatments consisted of the cultivation of maize and wheat in three stressful production environments (soil salinity, drought and high temperatures) and a non-stressful production environment (Control), with four repetitions. The tolerance and intensity index of abiotic stresses, as well as the intensity of theoretical multifactorial stress (salinity, drought and high temperatures), for morphological traits and grain yield, were calculated. The results reported that physiological traits and yield of maize and wheat are severely affected by drought stress conditions. High temperatures are the second abiotic stress factor that most limits physiological traits and grain yield of maize and wheat crops, being more harmful than soil salinity. The theoretical multifactorial stress has a greater negative impact on the yield of the elite maize and wheat varieties. The sum of a stressful environmental factor increases the intensity of multifactorial stress on grain yield of both cereal crops, especially for maize crop.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":14864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science","volume":"210 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142685271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluating Drought Tolerance and Yield Stability of Sorghum Genotypes for Sustainable Agriculture in Sohag, Egypt","authors":"Alaa A. Said,&nbsp;Salah F. Abou-Elwafa,&nbsp;Abdel-Rahman A. Mustafa,&nbsp;Ahmed R. M. Ridwan,&nbsp;Mohamed A. Siddiq,&nbsp;Ali R. A. Moursy,&nbsp;Mohamed A. E. AbdelRahman,&nbsp;Nafisa A. M. Mobarak","doi":"10.1111/jac.12787","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jac.12787","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The major problem in the cultivation of sorghum in the Egyptian agricultural system includes arid climate and water shortage. Thus, the present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of drought conditions on the productivity of 21 different sorghum (<i>Sorghum bicolor</i> L.) genotypes at Sohag, Egypt. A set of drought tolerance metrics employed in the present study were Tolerance Index (TOL); Mean Production (MP); Sensitivity to Drought Index (SSI); Stress Tolerance Index (STI); Geometric mean performance (GMP) and Harmonic mean of yield (HARM). A field-controlled experiment was conducted on the two growth seasons (2021 and 2022) concerning the impact of different drought levels on (ET₀ = 0.8, 0.6 and 0.4) Grain Yields (GY) and Water Use Efficiency (WUE) for the various studied sorghum genotypes. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was also conducted on the obtained data of the different yield parameters with the aim of identifying the most effective tolerance indices related to the different genotypes of sorghum under both conditions, optimal and stressed. Drought tolerance varies among different sorghum varieties, which, by their genetic and physiological nature, possess efficient stomatal regulation and deep-rooted systems, enhancing water conservation and physiological functions and hence higher WUE. These are mainly influenced by environmental conditions, such as soil type and moisture levels in the region of Sohag, where such genotypes may exhibit different performances regarding drought stress. It was observed that Giza-15 and Hybrid Sh1 were among the high performers under well-irrigated conditions, and L38 was outstanding during a severe drought in terms of WUE. Therefore, proper genotype selection depends on the irrigation strategy. Hence, the Sohag region presents a good opportunity for further improvement of drought tolerance through designed selection and hybridization activities in sorghum breeders, and this contributes to climate-resilient cultivars by addressing the present agricultural challenges and food security for the present world. Emphasis will be placed by breeders on the development of arid-condition-adapted genotypes and the development of models that can be applied within comparable climates to boost productivity and sustainability for those farmers dependent on this vital crop.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":14864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science","volume":"210 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142684125","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dry Spell Dynamics Impacting the Productivity of Rainfed Crops Over the Semi-Arid Regions of South-East India","authors":"Santanu Kumar Bal,&nbsp;Koilakonda Ashok Kumar,&nbsp;Kaipa Venkata Subrahmanya Sudheer,&nbsp;Abburi Venkata M. Subba Rao,&nbsp;Kanagala Pavani,&nbsp;Chagam Venkata Chandra Mohan Reddy,&nbsp;Bodireddy Sahadeva Reddy,&nbsp;Malamal Alickal Sarath Chandran,&nbsp;Narayanan Manikandan,&nbsp;Vinod Kumar Singh","doi":"10.1111/jac.70002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jac.70002","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The crop productivity in rainfed regions is driven by the quantum and distribution of rainfall during the crop growth period. The dry spell index (DSI) was used in the present investigation to quantify the cumulative impact of dry spells on major rainfed crops of the kharif season (June–September) in India's semi-arid regions of Andhra Pradesh. The effect of DSI on the yield of major rainfed crops, i.e., groundnut, pigeon pea, cotton, maize and pearl millet was estimated and compared with the widely used standard precipitation index (SPI). Our results revealed that among the various districts, a higher DSI (&gt; 16.1) was noticed in Anantapur that experienced a DSI of 8.1–16.0 in 77% of the years during the study period (1998–2019), which indicated that the crop suffered stress conditions during the season affecting the crop yields. Moreover, a significant negative correlation was observed between the yields of various crops (groundnut, pigeon pea, maize and pearl millet) and DSI. On the other hand, SPI analysis showed that 74%–83% of the years experienced normal (−0.99 to 0.99) to moderately dry (−1.00 to −1.49) conditions, indicating normal rainfall status during the season. At the same time, no significant correlation was found between the SPI and crop yields. Therefore, the present study revealed that the DSI performed better in quantifying the dry spells and their impact on crop yields, especially under rainfed conditions in the semi-arid regions of south-east India.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":14864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science","volume":"210 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142674073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effect of Shading on Leaf Anatomical Structure, Photosynthesis Characteristics and Chlorophyll Fluorescence of Soybean (Glycine max)","authors":"Kanchan Jumrani,&nbsp;Virender Singh Bhatia,&nbsp;Sajad Hussain,&nbsp;Sunita Kataria,&nbsp;Xinghong Yang,&nbsp;Marian Brestic","doi":"10.1111/jac.12783","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jac.12783","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The present study aimed to investigate the effect of different shade treatments (0%, 35%, 50% and 75%) on physiological traits and yield attributes of two soybean genotypes namely JS 97-52 and JS 95-60. The results clearly showed that plants which were grown under control conditions exhibited the highest values for specific leaf weight, chlorophyll content, leaf thickness and stomatal density, whereas the lowest values were observed in plants subjected to 75% shading. Moreover, a significant reduction in photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and electron transport rate was observed with decreased solar radiation. Performance index, fluorescence area, Fv/Fo, Fo/fm, ABS/CSo, DIo/CSo, TRo/CSo and ETo/CSo were also reduced under heavy shade. Seed yield was reduced by 24%, 47% and 62% in JS 97-52 and by 51%, 82% and 92% in JS 95-60 under 35%, 50% and 75% shading, respectively, compared to the control conditions. Therefore, to enhance crop productivity under intercropping, the effects of shade should be taken into consideration.</p>","PeriodicalId":14864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science","volume":"210 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jac.12783","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142674074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparative Analysis of Phytochemicals and Gene Expression in Soybean (Glycine max) Under Acute Moderated and Severe Elevated Ozone: Unravelling the Role of Antioxidant Defence","authors":"Cong Wang,&nbsp;Long Guo,&nbsp;Jinmeng Li,&nbsp;Shanshan Gao,&nbsp;Juanjuan Kong,&nbsp;Sheng Xu,&nbsp;Yanan Ruan","doi":"10.1111/jac.70000","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jac.70000","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The increasing concentrations of ground-level ozone (O₃) resulting from industrialisation and anthropogenic activities present a substantial environmental threat to agricultural productivity, particularly affecting O₃-sensitive crops such as soybeans. The effects of acute O₃ exposure on soybean yield attributes and seed quality and whether soybean showed different detoxification mechanisms in response to moderate and severe O₃ stress are not extensively explored. In this study, soybean seedlings were exposed to moderate (80 nmol mol⁻¹) and acute severe (200 nmol mol⁻¹) O₃ stress, and then growth parameters, yield attributes, reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant properties and associated gene expression in the leaves were assessed. The results revealed that moderate O₃ exposure enhanced growth parameters but reduced the 100-grain weight, while acute severe exposure sharply depressed growth parameters, yield attributes and the 100-grain weight. Moderate O₃ fumigation significantly increased hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) levels and catalase (CAT) activity from 4 to 32 h. Acute severe O₃ stress induced the overproduction of superoxide anions (O₂^.−) and H₂O₂ during nearly the whole experiment period, but only enhanced superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity at 32 h, and showed no stimulatory effects on CAT activity. Additionally, the relative expression levels of the <i>SOD</i> and <i>CAT</i> gene family in soybean leaves exposed to elevated O₃ were upregulated, peaking at 8 h. Moderate O₃ treatment enhanced reduced glutathione (GSH) and ascorbate (AsA) levels and increased the activities of AsA–GSH cycle-related enzymes. In contrast, acute severe O₃ exposure inhibited GSH and AsA contents and markedly suppressed AsA–GSH cycle-related enzymes, particularly from 8 to 32 h. Redundancy analysis indicated that CAT and AsA play crucial roles in scavenging O₃-induced ROS under moderate stress, while ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and GSH were more effective under acute severe stress conditions. These findings provide insights into the differential impacts of acute O₃ stress on soybeans, emphasising the importance of considering both crop yield and grain quality in assessing O₃ risks to crops.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":14864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science","volume":"210 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142645879","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Response of Durum Wheat Cultivars to Climate Change in a Mediterranean Environment: Trends of Weather and Crop Variables at the Turn of 21st Century","authors":"Angelo Rossini,&nbsp;Roberto Ruggeri,&nbsp;Andreina Belocchi,&nbsp;Francesco Rossini","doi":"10.1111/jac.12786","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jac.12786","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A better comprehension and analysis of climate impacts on crop traits allows the implementation of more appropriate adaptation strategies and, therefore, a higher resilience of the future cropping systems. The aims of this study were: (i) to assess how the climate changed in the last 32 years in a Mediterranean-type climate, (ii) to understand how crop traits evolved over time in early and late durum wheat cultivars and (iii) to highlight which weather variables mostly affected the performances of diverse durum wheat varieties. To investigate this, a 32-year period (i.e., 1989–2020) was analysed, detecting possible significant trends of weather variables (e.g., air temperatures, precipitations, solar radiation) and crop traits (e.g., earliness, yield, yield components and test weight) over time in Viterbo, central Italy. Eight durum wheat varieties (4 early and 4 late cultivars) were chosen from the most used in that location. A clear upward trend of the monthly maximum air temperature during the entire growing season was revealed (0.12°C–0.21°C per year), while rainfall displayed a significant trend only for February and March. Days to heading and number of spikes per unit area showed a significant downward trend moving towards 2020. Anticipation of heading date was much more pronounced in the late cultivars than in the early ones, so that the difference between the two groups was reduced from about 10 days of 1989 to less than 6 days of 2020. Grain yield stagnated around 5 t ha⁻¹ with late varieties that proved to be as good producers as the early ones. Test weight and thousand kernel weight showed a slight increase over time. Maximum temperatures of February and March exerted a considerable influence in reducing time to heading (0.7–3.4 days for each additional°C), while the maximum temperature of May was detrimental for grain yield (−180 to −270 kg ha⁻¹ for each additional °C). Our study identified two weak points in the current durum wheat cultivation: (i) phenology is being more and more similar among modern cultivars; (ii) the number of spikes per unit area dramatically decreased in the last 30 years. Therefore, beside greater genetic diversity, a new agronomic approach, especially from seeding to the end of the tillering stage, will be required to cope with durum cultivation in the future climate scenario of the Mediterranean. The outputs of our analysis add precious information on the comprehension of climate change effects on Mediterranean cropping systems and can guide either the decision making for the management of durum wheat or its breeding activity for the future.</p>","PeriodicalId":14864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science","volume":"210 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jac.12786","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142637230","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Positive and Negative Effects of Inter-Annual Climate Variability on Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Crop in Agro-Climatic Zones of Punjab","authors":"Sohail Abbas,&nbsp;Tingting Li,&nbsp;Yi Chen,&nbsp;Heli Lu,&nbsp;Siqi Lu,&nbsp;Fenglin Lv,&nbsp;Liang Cao,&nbsp;Nausheen Mazhar,&nbsp;Wanfu Feng","doi":"10.1111/jac.12780","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jac.12780","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Globally, climate changes have significantly shifted the phenological phases and stages of rice, altered the duration of the growing season and negatively affected rice productivity due to flooding and drought. However, in the present study, the positive and negative impacts of inter-annual climate variability on rice crops during phenological stages in agro-climatic zones of Punjab for the period from 1989 to 2018. Initially, first difference approach was applied to minimise the impact of technological factors. Then, skewness and kurtosis tests were used to check the normalisation of the data. The standardisation method was used to normalise the data. Pearson correlation was used to determine the significant effects of climate variables on rice yield. The residuals were formed to confirm the effects of inter-annual climate variability on rice yield in the phenological phases. The analysis revealed that a high variability of rice yields was investigated in the western region compared to the southern and western regions. The results showed a negative impact of heavy rainfall (flooding) on the years with low yields (2010, 2013 and 2016) in the Central region. Similarly, the years with low rice yields (1996, 2010, 2013 and 2014) in the Southern region were negatively affected by flooding at the time of sowing. A positive effect of rainfall was observed in the years with high rice yields (1995, 2002, 2009 and 2018) in the Western region. In contrast, the low-yielding years 1994, 2003 and 2010 were negatively affected by flooding in the same years during the tillering stage. A high interannual maximum temperature variability was analysed in the Southern &gt; Western &gt; Central regions, leading to yield losses due to biotic stress during tillering and stem elongation stages. This is due to the immense reason of drought stress. The minimum temperature negatively affects the low-yield years (2001, 2008, 2013 and 2016) in the central zone and the low-yield years (2014, 2015 and 2016) in the southern zone during the reproductive stage. This research will help to develop new rice varieties that are more productive at high temperatures and require less water, leading to sustainable development in arid and semi-arid regions.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":14864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science","volume":"210 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142601179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Progress in Agronomic Crops Lodging Resistance and Prevention: A Review","authors":"Muzammal Rehman,&nbsp;Dengjie Luo,&nbsp;Samavia Mubeen,&nbsp;Jiao Pan,&nbsp;Shan Cao,&nbsp;Wajid Saeed,&nbsp;Peng Chen","doi":"10.1111/jac.12785","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jac.12785","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Crop lodging is recognised as one of the yield-limiting factors in agricultural production. Therefore, better understanding to improve lodging resistance and to prevent lodging-induced losses in agronomic crops is necessary. Besides yield losses, lodging severely affects the crop harvesting process and increases the production cost. However, achieving the objective of higher crop yields and yield quality without increasing lodging risk is quite challenging. To this end, it is essential to interpret the underlying mechanism of plant stem buckling and failure of root anchorage and optimise the fundamental trade-off between lodging resistance and yield performance in agronomic crops. In the present review, we made an effort to discuss recent and innovative research insights that guarantee greater lodging resistance along with advanced lodging prevention strategies while sustaining higher crop yield and yield quality.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":14864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science","volume":"210 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142588143","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effect of KNO3-Priming on Agronomic, Physicochemical and Fibre Attributes of Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) Under Saline Conditions","authors":"Ghulam Abbas Narejo,&nbsp;Ameer Ahmed Mirbahar,&nbsp;Sanaullah Yasin,&nbsp;Rafat Saeed","doi":"10.1111/jac.12779","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jac.12779","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;div&gt;\u0000 \u0000 &lt;p&gt;Salinity stress presents a challenging dilemma for plant growth and development. It disrupts cotton (&lt;i&gt;Gossypium hirsutum&lt;/i&gt; L.) yield through an immediate osmotic and a slower ionic phase, ultimately diminishing its fibre quality. Seed priming, a low-cost seed pre-treatment, mitigates these effects by triggering prior metabolic processes and subsequent gene expression. This pioneering work aimed to improve agronomic, physicochemical parameters and fibre characteristics in cotton genotypes (GH-Baghdadi and GH-Mubarak) by potassium nitrate (KNO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;) mediated osmopriming (1.25% and 1.5% conc.) for 15, 20 and 25 h, along with an un-primed control under saline field conditions. The randomised complete block design experiment in triplicate was conducted in 2019 and 2020 at the soil with electrical conductivity (extract) (EC&lt;sub&gt;e&lt;/sub&gt;) 9.44 dS m&lt;sup&gt;−1&lt;/sup&gt; to investigate optimal priming media and priming duration. The results showed that salinity impaired physicochemical and agronomic parameters in the control experiment. However, seed priming with 1.5% KNO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; for 20 h significantly improved the yield and yield contributing components in both genotypes. Maximum values for chlorophyll (Chl) &lt;i&gt;a&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;b&lt;/i&gt; were recorded at 1.50 and 0.90 mg g&lt;sup&gt;−1&lt;/sup&gt; fresh weight (FW), respectively, under this treatment. Similarly, the chlorophyll-&lt;i&gt;a&lt;/i&gt; fluorescence parameters (Chl-&lt;i&gt;a&lt;/i&gt; FPs), such as the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II (&lt;i&gt;Fv/F&lt;sub&gt;m&lt;/sub&gt; &lt;/i&gt;) (0.83), effective quantum yield of PSII (Φ&lt;sub&gt;PSII&lt;/sub&gt;) (0.76) and photochemical quenching coefficient (&lt;i&gt;qP&lt;/i&gt;) (0.85), indicated improved light harvesting, electron transport and photosynthetic capacity. Furthermore, the net photosynthetic rate (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;) increased to 19.65 mmol CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; m&lt;sup&gt;−2&lt;/sup&gt; s&lt;sup&gt;−1&lt;/sup&gt;, while stomatal conductance (&lt;i&gt;g&lt;/i&gt;&lt;sub&gt;&lt;i&gt;s&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;) reached 28.39 mmol CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; m&lt;sup&gt;−2&lt;/sup&gt; s&lt;sup&gt;−1&lt;/sup&gt; at the same treatment. A strongly positive correlation was found between chl-&lt;i&gt;a&lt;/i&gt; FPs and net photosynthetic yield. Enzymatic activities, including catalase (CAT) at 2.17 unit mg&lt;sup&gt;−1&lt;/sup&gt;, superoxide dismutase (SOD) at 1.05 unit mg&lt;sup&gt;−1&lt;/sup&gt; and peroxidase (POD) at 1.50 unit mg&lt;sup&gt;−1&lt;/sup&gt; were significantly enhanced, along with leaf potassium (K) (14.3 mg g&lt;sup&gt;−1&lt;/sup&gt; dry weight [DW]) and calcium (Ca) (6.7 mg g&lt;sup&gt;−1&lt;/sup&gt; DW), particularly in GH-Mubarak. Seed-cotton yield (SCY) increased to 5274 kg h&lt;sup&gt;−1&lt;/sup&gt; and fibre strength (FS) improved to 31.3 thousand pounds per square inch (tppsi), while ginning out-turn (GOT) reached a maximum of 45% at 1.5% KNO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; for 20 h in both genotypes. The micronaire value (4 μg in.&lt;sup&gt;−2&lt;/sup&gt;) significantly decreased, indicating improved fibre fineness. Correlation analysis revealed a strong positive correlation between physicochemical and agronomic traits, particularly gas exchange characteristics, chlorophy","PeriodicalId":14864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science","volume":"210 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142574531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Foliar Application of Plant Growth Regulators Enhances Drought Tolerance by Modulating Growth and Biochemical Responses in Sugarcane Varieties","authors":"Shakeel Ahmad,&nbsp;Yaowen Deng,&nbsp;Rongman Lv,&nbsp;Kashif Akhtar,&nbsp;Ihsan Muhammad,&nbsp;Muhammad Farooq,&nbsp;Ronghui Wen","doi":"10.1111/jac.12784","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jac.12784","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Plant growth regulators (PGRs) improve crop growth and mitigate the adverse effects of drought stress. This study explores the effects of various PGRs including melatonin (MT), indole-butyric acid (IBA) and gibberellic acid (GA₃) on drought-tolerant Zhongzhe 9 (ZZ9) and Xintaitang 22 (ROC22), as well as drought-sensitive varieties Guitang-44 (GT44) and Funong 41 (FN41) varieties. A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the foliar application of these hormones alone or in combination on sugarcane seedlings under drought stress conditions. At the sixth leaf stage, drought stress was induced by reducing soil moisture to 40%–45% field capacity. Results showed that the drought-sensitive variety GT44 had the highest plant height (17.97 cm), while PGRs application enhanced the relative water content (RWC) in FN41 by 0.96%. PGRs treatment also increased plant height by 33.98% and RWC by 3.26% compared to controls. MT application significantly increased chlorophyll a and b contents in FN41 by 4.82% and 4.51%, respectively. Antioxidant enzyme activities superoxide dismutase and peroxidase increased by 16.39% and 12.57%, respectively, indicating enhanced oxidative stress defence. Moreover, PGRs applications reduced hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation, signifying decreased oxidative damages. The combinations of MT + GA₃ and MT + IBA + GA₃ significantly improved the plant growth attributes, antioxidant enzymes, osmolytes and reduced the accumulation of ROS and MDA content in both tolerant and sensitive varieties under drought stress. Thus, combined application of MT + GA₃ and MT + IBA + GA₃ treatments effectively mitigated drought stress in sugarcane seedlings, providing valuable insights for sustainable agricultural practices.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":14864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science","volume":"210 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142566135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}