Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Of the many threats to global food security, one of the most pressing is the increased incidence of extreme weather events. In addition to extreme rainfall, a combination of global sea level rise and storm surge is likely to result in frequent episodes of seawater flooding in arable systems along low-lying coasts. Our aim was to elucidate the effects of simulated seawater and freshwater flooding on the survival, growth and reproductive potential of four cultivars of the important seed crop, Brassica napus [canola, or oilseed rape (OSR)]. METHODS: Established plants were exposed to 24 or 96 h freshwater or seawater root zone immersion (with a no immersion 'control'). Initial post-treatment performance over 7 weeks was quantified using dry weight biomass. A second group of plants, cultivated until maturity, were used to quantify reproductive yield (siliqua and seed number, and seed size) and subsequent progeny performance (germination and seedling growth). RESULTS: Oilseed rape growth and reproductive responses were unaffected by freshwater, but seawater negatively affected growth and siliqua number for all cultivars, and seed mass for two ('Agatha' and 'Cubic'). In addition to impacts on crop yield, the growth of seedlings cultivated from seed collected from maternal plants subjected to seawater immersion was also reduced. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate the potential impact of seawater inundation on coastal cropping systems; although OSR may survive acute saline flooding, there are longer term impacts on growth and yield for some cultivars. The threat may necessitate changes in land-use practice and/or the development of salt-tolerant cultivars to maintain economically viable yields. In addition, by evidencing a hitherto unknown effect on reproductive performance (i.e. reduced seed yield) and subsequent seedling growth, our study highlights an important potential impact of coastal flooding on plant community dynamics for (semi-) natural habitats.
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Claims 8
Claim · model-written summary
Freshwater flooding left growth and reproductive responses unaffected.
- Taxon
- oilseed rape
_Brassica_napus_-_Habit.jpg?width=60)
Brassica napust0 - Treatment
- freshwatere0
- Outcome
- growth and reproductive responsese0
- Direction
- unaffectede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
_Brassica_napus_-_Habit.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e0“Oilseed rape growth and reproductive responses were unaffected by freshwater”
t0“Simulated seawater flooding reduces oilseed rape growth”
Claim · model-written summary
Seawater flooding reduced growth in all cultivars.
- Taxon
- oilseed rapeBrassica napust0
- Treatment
- seawatere0
- Outcome
- growthe0
- Direction
- negatively affectede0
- Qualifier
- all cultivarse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“seawater negatively affected growth and siliqua number for all cultivars”
t0“Simulated seawater flooding reduces oilseed rape growth”
Claim · model-written summary
Seawater flooding reduced siliqua number in all cultivars.
- Taxon
- oilseed rapeBrassica napust0
- Treatment
- seawatere0
- Outcome
- siliqua numbere0
- Direction
- negatively affectede0
- Qualifier
- all cultivarse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“seawater negatively affected growth and siliqua number for all cultivars”
t0“Simulated seawater flooding reduces oilseed rape growth”
Claim · model-written summary
Seawater flooding reduced seed mass in Agatha.
- Taxon
- oilseed rapeBrassica napust0
- Material
- Agathae0
- Outcome
- seed masse0
Not reportedTreatmentComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“seed mass for two ('Agatha' and 'Cubic')”
t0“Simulated seawater flooding reduces oilseed rape growth”
Claim · model-written summary
Seawater flooding reduced seed mass in Cubic.
- Taxon
- oilseed rapeBrassica napust0
- Material
- Cubice0
- Outcome
- seed masse0
Not reportedTreatmentComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“seed mass for two ('Agatha' and 'Cubic')”
t0“Simulated seawater flooding reduces oilseed rape growth”
Claim · model-written summary
Seedlings from seawater-immersed maternal plants had reduced growth.
- Taxon
- oilseed rapeBrassica napust0
- Organ / stage
- seedlingse0
- Treatment
- seawater immersione0
- Outcome
- growth of seedlingse0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the growth of seedlings cultivated from seed collected from maternal plants subjected to seawater immersion was also reduced”
t0“Simulated seawater flooding reduces oilseed rape growth”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors suggest changing land-use practice to maintain viable yields.
- Taxon
- oilseed rapeBrassica napust0
- Outcome
- changes in land-use practicee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The threat may necessitate changes in land-use practice and/or the development of salt-tolerant cultivars to maintain economically viable yields”
t0“Simulated seawater flooding reduces oilseed rape growth”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors suggest developing salt-tolerant cultivars to maintain viable yields.
- Taxon
- oilseed rapeBrassica napust0
- Outcome
- development of salt-tolerant cultivarse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The threat may necessitate changes in land-use practice and/or the development of salt-tolerant cultivars to maintain economically viable yields”
t0“Simulated seawater flooding reduces oilseed rape growth”
The same questions in other papers
application · growth · Brassica napus (oilseed rape)Positive and negative results
8 papers in the same direction as this paper · 38 in the opposite direction
- positive
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- positive
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See all 47 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.