Nodule Formation and Nitrogen Use Efficiency Are Important for Soybean to Adapt to Water and P Deficit Conditions

Yi Jin, Jin He (), Yonghe Zhu and Kadambot H. M. Siddique
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Yi Jin: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xingke Road 723, Guangzhou 510650, China
Jin He: Key Laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education), College of Agriculture, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Yonghe Zhu: Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Modern Crop Production, College of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210000, China
Kadambot H. M. Siddique: The UWA Institute of Agriculture and UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6001, Australia

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-11

Abstract: Drought stress and phosphorus (P) deficit decrease soybean P and nitrogen (N) accumulation, which limits soybean productivity. Therefore, soybean traits related to N and P uptake and/or their efficient utilization are important for soybean adaptation to P- and water-deficit conditions. We hypothesize that increasing soybean nodulation to enhance N and P uptake, and/or improving N and P use efficiency (PUE and NUE) are important for the adaptation of soybean to drought and low P conditions. To test this hypothesis, we selected four genotypes with different nodule dry weight (DW) and yield performance for a pot experiment under two water treatments [well-watered (WW) and cycle water stress (WS)] and three P levels [0 (P0, low), 60 (P60, mid), and 120 (P120, high) mg P kg −1 dry soil on top 40 cm]. Our study showed that P deficit and water stress significantly decreased soybean P and N accumulation, which limited seed yield under both WS and WW conditions. P addition increased soybean nodule dry weight (DW), thus increasing N and P uptake. Increasing nodule DW required high water use, and while there was no relationship found between nodule DW and yield under WS, a positive relationship under WW was shown. Partitioning more dry matter to seed could improve NUE and PUE. P addition did not change soybean NUE, which is important to yield determination under WS and P0 but has no effect on yield under WW. We conclude that increasing nodule formation improved soybean N and P uptake, which diminished the yield loss under WS and improved yield performance under WW. While high NUE reflects efficient utilization of N, which can improve yield under drought stress and low P availability, and does not impair the yield under WW. We propose that NUE and nodules are important traits for breeders to improve the tolerance to water- and P-deficit conditions.

Keywords: water- and P-deficit; nodule dry weight; N and P uptake; N and P use efficiency; harvest index; water use efficiency; seed yield (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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