Water Use Efficiency and Stress Tolerance of the Potential Energy Crop Miscanthus lutarioriparius Grown on the Loess Plateau of China

Abstract

As a potential energy crop with high biomass yield, Miscanthus lutarioriparius (M. lutarioriparius), endemic to the Long River Range in central China, needs to be investigated for its acclimation to stressful climatic and soil conditions often found on the marginal land. In this study, traits related to acclimation and yield, including survival rates, plant height (PH), stem diameter (SD), tiller number (TN), water use efficiency (WUE), and photosynthetic rates (A), were examined for 41 M. lutarioriparius populations that transplanted to the arid and cold Loess Plateau of China. The results showed that the average survival rate of M. lutarioriparius populations was only 4.16% over the first winter but the overwinter rate increased to 35.03% after the second winter, suggesting that plants having survived the first winter could have acclaimed to the low temperature. The strikingly high survival rates over the second winter were found to be 95.83% and 80.85%, respectively, for HG18 and HG39 populations. These populations might be especially valuable for the selection of energy crops for such an area. Those individuals surviving for the two consecutive winters showed significantly higher WUE than those measured after the first winter. The high WUE and low stomatal conductance (gs) observed in survived individuals could have been responsible for their acclimation to this new and harsh environment. A total of 61 individuals with productive growth traits and strong resistance to cold and drought were identified for further energy crop development. This study showed that the variation of M. lutarioriparius held great potential for developing energy crops following continuous field selection.

Development of energy plants from hybrids between Miscanthus sacchariflorus and M. lutarioriparius grown on reclaimed mine land in the Loess Plateau of China

“…Although the high photosynthetic rate is due to the high stomatal conductance, it can increase the expense of additional transpiration ( Dohleman et al., 2009 ). It was acknowledged that small stomatal conductance was more conducive to coping with the poor external environment ( Leakey, 2009 ; Zhao et al., 2021 ). The plant could have suffered severe drought stress when the stomatal conductance decreased ( Ings et al., 2013 ).…”

“…The female parent of M. sacchariflorus was from a population native to the Loess Plateau, adapted to the cold and drought environment but producing relatively low biomass ( Yan et al., 2012 ). M. lutarioriparius , an endemic species in Central China with the highest biomass production, has been shown to have high water use efficiency and high yield in certain locations of the Loess Plateau where it was able to overwinter ( Yan et al., 2015 ; Zhao et al., 2021 ).…”

Transcriptomic Characterization of Miscanthus sacchariflorus × M. lutarioriparius and Its Implications for Energy Crop Development in the Semiarid Mine Area

“…M. sacchariflorus has a high level of genetic diversity and adaptation. Literature has also suggested that the two species had been transplanted on the Loess Plateau of northwestern China, which demonstrated that they had great potential to serve as suitable progenitors in perennial energy crop breeding programs [6][7][8]. Compared to M. sacchariflorus, M. lutarioriparius has lower heritability of traits such as cold and drought tolerance, and lower establishment rates in the Loess Plateau.…”

Desempeño agronómico y fisiológico de variedades nativas de tomate mexicano sometidas a deficiencias de agua y nutrientes

“…A través de su evolución las plantas han desarrollado mecanismos de defensa a nivel morfológico, fisiológico, bioquímico, celular y molecular, para poder superar las condiciones de déficit hídrico y el estrés por sequía (Lesk et al, 2016;Zhao et al, 2021). La resistencia a la sequía de las plantas se puede clasificar en cuatro tipos básicos: prevención de la sequía, tolerancia a la sequía, escape a la sequía y recuperación de la sequía (Fang y Xiong, 2015).…”