Grain sorghum transpiration efficiency at different growth stages

Sushil Thapa, Bob A. Stewart and Qingwu Xue
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Sushil Thapa: Dryland Agriculture Institute, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, USA
Bob A. Stewart: Dryland Agriculture Institute, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, USA
Qingwu Xue: Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Amarillo, USA

Plant, Soil and Environment, 2017, vol. 63, issue 2, 70-75

Abstract: Transpiration efficiency (TE) is an important physiological trait associated with drought tolerance of plants. Currently, little is known about the grain sorghum TE and its dynamics with the age of plants. To compare the sorghum TE at different growth stages, four studies (two in the greenhouse and two in the growth chamber) were conducted under controlled environmental conditions. Plants were grown in lid-covered boxes and harvested at six-leaf, flag leaf, grain filling and maturity stages. The mean shoot TE values were 4.47 and 4.10 kg/m3 for two greenhouse studies, and 4.85 and 4.30 kg/m3 for two growth chamber studies, respectively. The shoot TE was not different among four growth stages within each study, suggesting that sorghum plants used the same amount of water per unit of biomass production for different growing periods. Because crops grown under dryland environments often run out of water during reproductive periods, result supports the ideas that soil water availability at later growth stages is crucial to achieve the yield potential of dryland sorghum.

Keywords: C4 plant; water stress; shoot to root ratio; Sorghum bicolor; vapour pressure deficit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:63:y:2017:i:2:id:796-2016-pse

DOI: 10.17221/796/2016-PSE

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