Temperature explains the yield difference of double-season rice between tropical and subtropical environments

Abstract

Crop yields are largely influenced by air temperature and solar radiation, but the individual effects of these weather variables are difficult to distinguish because they are often not independent. Here, we demonstrate a large effect of temperature on rice grain yield when solar radiation and crop growth duration were not confounding factors for explaining yield difference across two locations in the tropical and subtropical environments. We found that grain yield of double-season rice crops in the subtropical environment of Wuxue County, Hubei Province, China was 9-66% higher than that in the tropical environment of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines. Such yield difference was not caused by the difference in crop growth duration from transplanting to maturity. Biomass production rather than harvest index was responsible for the yield difference. Average daily minimum and maximum temperature from transplanting to maturity at IRRI was 3.4 and 1.9 ºC higher than that at Wuxue, respectively, whereas average daily solar radiation at Wuxue was lower or similar to that at IRRI. Crop's efficiency in converting solar radiation into biomass (i.e. radiation use efficiency, RUE) at Wuxue was 48% higher than that at IRRI, which was associated with the difference in temperature between the two environments. We concluded that lower rice yield in the tropical environment was associated with lower RUE, which was due to the higher temperature compared with the subtropical environment. Our results suggested the crop adaptation strategies for global climate changes should focus more on future warming.

Point stresses during reproductive stage rather than warming seasonal temperature determine yield in temperate rice

“…If that assumption is invalid, which is likely given the preponderance of literature on site, year, and variety effects in agricultural systems, the estimates are unlikely to transfer beyond the original data set. In contrast to a priori assumptions that these confounding effects are “relatively small” (Wang et al., ), the analysis here conditions inference over uncertainty induced by many possible covariates, including but not limited to systematic differences between sites, cultivars, and years. By conditioning on these differences between observations, the estimates here rely on fewer strong assumptions for validity.…”

“…There has been considerable focus in recent years on the role of increased temperatures on grain yield in agricultural systems, including rice (e.g., Baker, ; Peng et al., ; Sheehy, Mitchell, & Ferrer, ; van Groenigen, van Kessel, & Hungate, ; Wang et al., ; Welch et al., ; Zhang, Zhu, & Wassmann, ). This focus is, in part, driven by the accumulated scientific evidence predicting that temperatures will increase between 1 and 5°C caused by climate change (Stocker et al., ).…”

“…Warmer temperatures increase maintenance respiration and thereby decrease the amount of carbohydrate available for yield formation (Amthor, ). Previous literature has suggested that T min , which is linked to nighttime respiration, is particularly important as a driver of yield losses compared to T max (Peng et al., ; Wang et al., ). However, using field observations to estimate the impact of seasonal warming stress on crop yield has proven difficult, with conflicting estimates of the magnitude of the effect on crop yields in rice.…”

“…However, using field observations to estimate the impact of seasonal warming stress on crop yield has proven difficult, with conflicting estimates of the magnitude of the effect on crop yields in rice. Reported yield losses from increased seasonal T min have ranged from large (e.g., 10% per °C; Peng et al., ; Wang et al., ), to modest (e.g., 6% per °C or less; Rehmani et al., ; Sheehy et al., ; Welch et al., ), to little loss (e.g., Zhang et al., ).…”

Improvement and stabilization of rice production by delaying sowing date in irrigated rice system in central China

“…have proved that the solar radiation is not a limiting factor to grain yield compared with the temperature in this region. Wang et al . have also proved that the rice yield was significantly higher in this region than at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), although the average daily solar radiation and seasonal solar radiation were not higher in this region than at IRRI.…”