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Evaluation of drought tolerance in sugarcane genotypes using the membership function value of drought tolerance (MFVD)

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Abstract

Drought is a worldwide problem seriously influencing sugarcane (Saccharum L. spp. hybrids) production. The long-term domestication and selective breeding in artificial environments may have reduced the drought resistance of sugarcane. The objective of this study was to determine drought tolerance in a 138-genotype of elite sugarcane hybrids using the membership function value of drought tolerance (MFVD). Based on the drought-tolerant coefficient (DC) of four yield traits (biomass, stalk weight, stalk diameter and stalk height) and bud survival rate (SR) at different growth stage under well-watered (WW) and water-stressed (WS) conditions. As expected, genotype means decreased for all five traits with WS, and the decrease of biomass, stalk weight, stalk diameter, stalk height and bud survival rate (SR) was ≥ 24%. The broad sense heritability of five morphological traits (B, SW, SH, SD and SR) was relatively high. Correlation coefficients analysis revealed that the MFVD was significantly positively correlated with the DCB, DCSW, DCSH and DCSD at the growth stage and SR at the seedling stage. Results indicated that these characters were closely related to the drought resistance of sugarcane. Regression models built based on MFVD indicated that the variation of drought tolerant coefficient of 4 traits at the growth stage and SR at the seeding stage could explain the total variation. Thus, these five traits could be used as drought resistance indicators for screening drought resistance cultivars in sugarcane. The MFVD based on the DC of each yield traits and SR indicated that ten out of the138 sugarcane hybrids had high drought resistance, while 14 genotypes were highly susceptible to the drought, which can be used as ideal experimental materials to study the mechanism of sugarcane genotypes with contrasting drought sensitivities in response to drought stress. Our results help to fill the knowledge gap regarding to the sugarcane production under stress, shed light on sugarcane drought tolerance and provided useful information to the sugarcane breeders and producers which could be used in variety selecting and developing for dry prone regions.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed for the current study are available from the corresponding author on a reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the funding body, Nation Natural Science Foundation of China (31540084), the Yunnan Natural Science Foundation (2018FG001-017), the National Infrastructure for Crop Germplasm Resources (NICGR2021-42), the Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Department for High-End Talent Program, and the Yunnan provincial grants ( YNQR-GDWG-2018-015 and 2019HB065 ). We would aslo like to thank DMB and SHH for its linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the Nation Natural Science Foundation of China (31540084), funding from the Yunnan Natural Science Foundation (2018FG001-017), National Infrastructure for Crop Germplasm Resources (NICGR2021-42), Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Department for High-End Talent Program and Yunnan provincial grants ( YNQR-GDWG-2018-015 and 2019HB065).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yunnan Sugarcane Research Institute, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Sugarcane Genetic Improvement, Kaiyuan, Yunnan, China

    Chaohua Xu, Jun Mao, Xujuan Li, David M. Burner, Chunjia Li, Shareif H. Hussin Hussin, Xiuqin Lin, Hongbo Liu, Peifang Zhao, Xin Lu & Xinlong Liu

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  1. Chaohua Xu
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  2. Jun Mao
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  3. Xujuan Li
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  4. David M. Burner
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  5. Chunjia Li
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  6. Shareif H. Hussin Hussin
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  7. Xiuqin Lin
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  8. Hongbo Liu
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  9. Peifang Zhao
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  10. Xin Lu
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  11. Xinlong Liu
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Contributions

CHX, XLL and XL conceived and designed the experiments. CHX, JM, XJL, CJL, XQL, HBL, QYZ, PFZ, and CYK conducted the experiments. CHX, XLL, CJL, and XL analyzed the data. CHX, XLL, and XL contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools. CHX, XLL, and XL wrote the manuscript. DMB and SHH revised and edited the English translation. XLL and XL approved the final version of the paper.

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Correspondence to Xin Lu or Xinlong Liu.

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Xu, C., Mao, J., Li, X. et al. Evaluation of drought tolerance in sugarcane genotypes using the membership function value of drought tolerance (MFVD). Euphytica 219, 37 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-023-03167-4

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