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Effects of root pruning on the growth and water use efficiency of winter wheat

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Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted to study the effects of root pruning at the stem elongation stage on the growth and water use efficiency (WUE) of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum). The results showed that stomatal conductance (g) and transpiration (E) of wheat were very sensitive to root pruning. After root pruning, they declined rapidly and but returned to pre-pruning values 15 days after treatment. Under well-watered conditions, there was no significant difference in leaf water potential (ψleaf) between root pruned and control plants after root pruning. Under moderate drought stress, ψleaf of root pruned plants declined significantly compared to the control 3 days after root pruning. After 15 days, ψleaf of root pruned plants was similar to the controls. Under different soil moisture levels, net assimilation rate (A) of root pruned plants was lower than controls 3–7 days after root pruning, but was similar to the controls 15 days after pruning. At anthesis (50 days after root pruning), root pruned plants showed significantly higher A compared with the control. Leaf area per tiller and tiller number of root pruning plants was significant lower than the control at booting stage, which showed that root pruning restrained the growth of plants in the early growing stage, but leaf area per stem, of root pruned plants, was similar to the control at anthesis. Under both soil moisture levels, there was no significant difference in grain yield between root pruned and the control plants in the monoculture. In mixture with the control plants, the root pruned plants was less productive and had a lower relative yield (0.92 and 0.78, respectively) compared with the control (1.13 and 1.19, respectively), which suggested that the pruned plants lost some of its competing ability and showed a lower ability to acquire and use the same resources in the mixture compared with the control plant. Over the whole growing cycle, root pruning reduced water consumption (by 10% under well-watered conditions and 16% under moderate drought stress) of wheat significantly compared to the control (P < 0.05), and but there was no significant difference in grain yield between root pruned and control plants. Therefore root pruned wheat had a higher WUE with respect to grain yield compared with the controls. In conclusion, lowering water consumption by root pruning in the early growing stage is an effective way to improve water use efficiency in arid and semi arid areas.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Ms. Lin Liu and Xiao-hong Zhang and Mr. Sheng-jiao Yang for their assistance in the experiment. This research was supported by “Hundred-Talent Program” of Chinese Academy of Sciences (C24016200) and National “973’’ Project (2007CB106804).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Surveying and Land Information Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, 454000, China

    Shou-Chen Ma

  2. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, 712100, China

    Shou-Chen Ma, Feng-Min Li & Bing-Cheng Xu

  3. MOE Key Laboratory of Arid and Grassland Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Feng-Min Li

  4. School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, China University of Mining & Technology, Beijing, China

    Zhan-Bin Huang

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  1. Shou-Chen Ma
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  2. Feng-Min Li
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Correspondence to Shou-Chen Ma.

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Ma, SC., Li, FM., Xu, BC. et al. Effects of root pruning on the growth and water use efficiency of winter wheat. Plant Growth Regul 57, 233–241 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-008-9340-1

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