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Carbon Isotope Discrimination as a Surrogate of Grain Yield in Drought Stressed Triticale

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Climate Change Adaptation in Africa

Part of the book series: Climate Change Management ((CCM))

Abstract

Water availability in semi-arid regions is increasingly becoming threatened by frequent droughts due to climate change and variability. Crop adaptation to climate change, particularly to drought, has become a priority in Africa. Water use efficiency (WUE) is one important trait in adapting crops to water limited environments, but its direct measurement remains a challenge. Hence, there is need for surrogate traits. A two-year study was carried out with four moisture levels, ranging from well-watered to severe stress, combined with four commercial triticale genotypes as treatments. The study evaluated the use of carbon isotope discrimination (Δ13C) as a proxy of WUE in triticale. The study revealed strong influence of soil moisture on Δ13C, intrinsic WUE (photosynthetic rate/stomatal conductance) and grain yield of triticale. Higher soil moisture levels significantly increased Δ13C while lower values of Δ13C were observed under water stressed conditions. The relationship between Δ13C and grain yield was positive (P < 0.01), but were only significant under water stressed conditions, indicating dependence of the relationship on moisture level. Intrinsic WUE and Δ13C showed a negative relationship for combined data of all moisture levels. Overall, the study showed that Δ13C could be useful as a triticale grain yield predictor under drought conditions. In addition, Δ13C also offered potential as a proxy of intrinsic WUE and could be used for breeding towards improved drought tolerance in triticale.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by VLIR-IUC, an Inter University Cooperation with University of Limpopo (UL), South Africa under Project 6 on Food Security. The authors would also like to acknowledge support from the Risk and Vulnerability Science Centre at UL. The following people are also acknowledged for their contribution to the work: Katja Van Nieuland, Willem Botes, Louis Eloff and Jimmy Motloutsi.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Isotope Bioscience Laboratory—ISOFYS, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Lawrence Munjonji, Bram Vandewalle & Pascal Boeckx

  2. Risk and Vulnerability Science Centre/VLIR-IUC Programme, University of Limpopo, Sovenga, South Africa

    Lawrence Munjonji & Kingsley Kwabena Ayisi

  3. Department of Applied Bioscience, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Geert Haesaert

Authors
  1. Lawrence Munjonji
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  2. Kingsley Kwabena Ayisi
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  3. Bram Vandewalle
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  4. Geert Haesaert
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  5. Pascal Boeckx
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lawrence Munjonji .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. FTZ-NK, HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Environmental and Development Studies, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Simane Belay

  3. School of Water Resources, South Eastern Kenya University, Nairobi, Kenya

    Jokasha Kalangu

  4. Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe

    Wuta Menas

  5. Department Ecosystems and Conservation, College of Forestry, Wildlife and Tourism, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania

    Pantaleo Munishi

  6. Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Chinhoyi University of Technology, Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe

    Kumbirai Musiyiwa

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Munjonji, L., Ayisi, K.K., Vandewalle, B., Haesaert, G., Boeckx, P. (2017). Carbon Isotope Discrimination as a Surrogate of Grain Yield in Drought Stressed Triticale. In: Leal Filho, W., Belay, S., Kalangu, J., Menas, W., Munishi, P., Musiyiwa, K. (eds) Climate Change Adaptation in Africa. Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49520-0_37

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