Abstract
SUMMARY Water stress is arguably the most limiting factor affecting cereal productivity in the world and its effects are likely to increase due to climate change. It is therefore imperative to have a wide-ranging understanding of water stress effects on crop physiological processes so as to better manage, improve and adapt crops to future climates. A field study was carried out to investigate the influence of four moisture levels on the following: (1) flag leaf CO 2 assimilation and flag leaf carbon content; (2) the utility of flag leaf spectral reflectance to monitor leaf water status and as an indicator of biomass and grain yield; and (3) biomass and grain yield performance of four spring triticale genotypes in a dry winter environment (steppe, arid climate). The experiment was carried out in a factorial arrangement of four moisture levels and four spring type triticale genotypes). Soil moisture level significantly influenced biomass accumulation, grain yield, CO 2 assimilation, flag leaf carbon content and spectral reflectance. Grain yield levels ranged from 0.8 to 3.5 t ha −1 in 2013 and 1.8 to 4.9 t ha −1 in 2014. CO 2 assimilation was significantly higher under well-watered (WW) conditions (9.92 µmol m −2 s −1 in 2013; 11.64 µmol m −2 s −1 in 2014) and decreased gradually with moisture level to 1.82 and 4.74 µmol m −2 s −1 under severe stress (SS) in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Flag leaf carbon content was significantly higher under water limited conditions compared to WW. Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalised Difference Water Index (NDWI) and Water Index (WI) were significant and positively correlated to biomass and grain yield. WI was particularly strongly correlated to biomass (0.72***) and grain yield (0.55***). However, no clear varietal effects were detected. This study revealed that carbon tends to accumulate in flag leaves under water stress and that flag leaf carbon content is influenced more by the export capacity of the flag leaves than on CO 2 assimilation rate. WI was found to be superior index in monitoring water stress in triticale compared to NDVI and NDWI. Above all, spring triticale proved to be adaptable to steppe (dry) climate of Limpopo and that livestock farmers in the province can successfully grow triticale for silage under MS conditions.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record, shown for indexing and research. Copyright remains with the authors or the publisher. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Soil moisture significantly influenced biomass, yield, assimilation, carbon content and reflectance.
- Taxon
- triticale
×Triticosecalet0 - Outcome
- biomass accumulation, grain yield, CO 2 assimilatione0
- Setting
- Soil moisture levele0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Soil moisture level significantly influenced biomass accumulation, grain yield, CO 2 assimilation, flag leaf carbon content and spectral reflectance”
t0“TRITICALE”
Claim · model-written summary
Triticale grain yield ranged from 0.8 to 3.5 t ha −1 in 2013.
- Taxon
- triticale×Triticosecalet0
- Outcome
- Grain yielde0
- Value
- 0.8 to 3.5 t ha −1e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Grain yield levels ranged from 0.8 to 3.5 t ha −1 in 2013”
t0“TRITICALE”
Claim · model-written summary
Triticale grain yield ranged from 1.8 to 4.9 t ha −1 in 2014.
- Taxon
- triticale×Triticosecalet0
- Value
- 1.8 to 4.9 t ha −1e0
Not reportedOutcome
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“1.8 to 4.9 t ha −1 in 2014”
t0“TRITICALE”
Claim · model-written summary
CO2 assimilation was higher when well watered and declined with water stress.
- Taxon
- triticale×Triticosecalet0
- Treatment
- well-watered (WW) conditionse0
- Outcome
- CO 2 assimilatione0
- Direction
- highere0
- Comparator
- severe stress (SS)e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“CO 2 assimilation was significantly higher under well-watered (WW) conditions (9.92 µmol m −2 s −1 in 2013; 11.64 µmol m −2 s −1 in 2014) and decreased gradually with moisture level to 1.82 and 4.74 µmol m −2 s −1 under severe stress (SS) in 2013 and 2014, respectively”
t0“TRITICALE”
Claim · model-written summary
Flag leaf carbon content was significantly higher under water limitation.
- Taxon
- triticale×Triticosecalet0
- Treatment
- water limited conditionse0
- Outcome
- Flag leaf carbon contente0
- Direction
- highere0
- Comparator
- WWe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Flag leaf carbon content was significantly higher under water limited conditions compared to WW”
t0“TRITICALE”
Claim · model-written summary
NDVI, NDWI and WI correlated positively with biomass and grain yield.
- Taxon
- triticale×Triticosecalet0
- Outcome
- biomass and grain yielde0
- Direction
- positively correlatede0
Not reportedSetting
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalised Difference Water Index (NDWI) and Water Index (WI) were significant and positively correlated to biomass and grain yield”
t0“TRITICALE”
Claim · model-written summary
Water Index correlated strongly with biomass and grain yield.
- Taxon
- triticale×Triticosecalet0
- Outcome
- biomasse0
- Direction
- strongly correlatede0
Not reportedSetting
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“WI was particularly strongly correlated to biomass (0.72***) and grain yield (0.55***)”
t0“TRITICALE”
Claim · model-written summary
No clear varietal effects were detected.
- Taxon
- triticale×Triticosecalet0
- Outcome
- varietal effectse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“no clear varietal effects were detected”
t0“TRITICALE”
Claim · model-written summary
WI was superior to NDVI and NDWI for monitoring triticale water stress.
- Taxon
- triticale×Triticosecalee0
- Outcome
- monitoring water stresse0
- Comparator
- NDVI and NDWIe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“WI was found to be superior index in monitoring water stress in triticale compared to NDVI and NDWI”
Claim · model-written summary
Authors conclude spring triticale can be grown for silage under moderate stress in Limpopo.
- Taxon
- triticale×Triticosecalee0
- Outcome
- grow triticale for silage under MS conditionse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“livestock farmers in the province can successfully grow triticale for silage under MS conditions”