Abstract
Aims
Rice is often cultivated in drought-prone regions causing growth inhibition. Therefore, we investigated whether close mixed planting of rice with pearl millet would mitigate these effects.
Methods
We used pot and lysimeter to evaluate whether close mixed planting with pearl millet is more effective than single-stand planting in suppressing the growth inhibition of rice (NERICA4) under drought.
Results
Close mixed planting only slightly alleviated the growth inhibition of rice under drought in the pot experiment and the first year lysimeter experiment, but mitigated this in the second year lysimeter experiment due to the lower levels of competition. Deuterated water applied from the bottom of the pot and lysimeter was present at a higher concentration in the xylem sap of rice under close mixed planting than under single-stand planting, and this tendency was enhanced by drought. Partitioning of the available water between the two crops was also observed under close mixed planting, with the rice and pearl millet depending on water from the soil surface and deep soil, respectively.
Conclusions
Close mixed planting with pearl millet effectively mitigates the growth inhibition of rice under drought due to the increased access to deep water and the partitioning of available water between the two crops.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the members of the projects entitled ‘Flood- and Drought-adaptive Cropping Systems to Conserve Water Environments in Semi-arid Regions’ by the framework of the ‘Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS)’ funded by both the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). We also thank Kashio C., Mori K., Okaich S., Nishio S. and other member of crop science laboratory of Kindai University for their assistance.
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Yamane, K., Araki, C., Watanabe, Y. et al. Close mixed planting with pearl millet improves drought tolerance in rice by the increased access to deep water. Plant Soil 423, 397–410 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-017-3526-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-017-3526-0