RESEARCH PAPER
Prediction of wheat grain yield by measuring root electrical capacitance at anthesis
1
Department of Soil Physics and Water Management, Institute for Soil Sciences, Centre for Agricultural Research, ELKH, Herman Ottó út 15., H-1022 Budapest, Hungary
2
Depatment of Cereal Breeding, Agricultural Institute, Centre for Africultural Research, ELKH, Herman Ottó út 15., H-1022 Budapest, Hungary
3
Department of Soil Biology, Institute for Soil Sciences, Centre for Agricultural Research, ELKH, Herman Ottó út 15., H-1022 Budapest, Hungary
Final revision date: 2021-05-12
Acceptance date: 2021-05-12
Publication date: 2021-06-10
Corresponding author
Imre Cseresnyés
Department of Soil Physics and Water Management, Institute for Soil Sciences, Centre for Agricultural Research, ELKH, Herman Ottó út 15., H-1022 Budapest, Hungary
Department of Soil Physics and Water Management, Institute for Soil Sciences, Centre for Agricultural Research, ELKH, Herman Ottó út 15., H-1022 Budapest, Hungary
Péter Mikó
Depatment of Cereal Breeding, Agricultural Institute, Centre for Africultural Research, ELKH, Brunszvik u. 2., H-2462, Martonvásár, Hungary
Depatment of Cereal Breeding, Agricultural Institute, Centre for Africultural Research, ELKH, Brunszvik u. 2., H-2462, Martonvásár, Hungary
Int. Agrophys. 2021, 35(2): 159–165
HIGHLIGHTS
- Root electrical capacitance was measured in field-grown wheat at anthesis.
- Three wheat cultivars were sown as sole crops and wheat–pea intercrops.
- Root capacitance was highly correlated with grain yield.
- Root capacitance and grain yield similarly varied among years, and was higher the intercrops.
- Root capacitance at anthesis predicted grain yield and cultivar responses to the environment.
KEYWORDS
aboveground biomassintercroppingnonintrusive root methodssaturation electrical capacitanceroot system size
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
This methodological study evaluated the efficiency of predicting aboveground biomass and grain yield in field-grown winter wheat by measuring the saturation root electrical capacitance at anthesis. Three cultivars were grown over a three-year period as sole crops and intercropped with winter pea at halved wheat density. The root capacitance readings were converted into saturation root electrical capacitance using the relevant soil water content, according to an empirical function. At plant scale, saturation root electrical capacitance at anthesis showed a significant (p < 0.001) linear regression with the total aboveground biomass (R2: 0.653-0.765) and grain yield (R2: 0.585-0.686) at maturity for each cultivar. At stand scale, both the mean saturation root electrical capacitance and shoot dry mass at anthesis and grain yield varied over the years, and were consistently higher for the intercrops compared to the sole crops. The relative increase in saturation root electrical capacitance due to intercropping corresponded with the changes in shoot dry mass and grain yield, especially in dry years. Saturation root electrical capacitance was significantly correlated with shoot dry mass (R2: 0.714-0.899) and grain yield (R2: 0.742-0.877) for each cultivar across all cropping systems and years. In conclusion, by mitigating the soil water content effect, the measurement of saturation root electrical capacitance at anthesis is adequate to forecast grain yield and cultivar response to a changing environment.
REFERENCES (25)
1.
Bedoussac L. and Justes E., 2011. A comparison of commonly used indices for evaluating species interactions and intercrop efficiency: Application to durum wheat-winter pea intercrops. Field Crops Res., 124, 25-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.....
2.
Chloupek O., 1972. The relationship between electric capacitance and some other parameters of plant roots. Biol. Plantarum, 14, 227-230. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf0292....
3.
Chloupek O., Dostál V., Středa T., Psota V., and Dvořáčková O., 2010. Drought tolerance of barley varieties in relation to their root system size. Plant Breeding, 129, 630-636. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439....
4.
Chloupek O., Forster B.P., and Thomas W.T.B., 2006. The effect of semi-dwarf genes on root system size in field-grown barley. Theor. Applied Gen., 112, 779-786. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122....
5.
Cseresnyés I., Szitár K., Rajkai K., Füzy A., Mikó P., Kovács R., and Takács T., 2018. Application of electrical capacitance method for prediction of plant root mass and activity in field-grown crops. Front. Plant Sci., 9, 93. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2....
6.
Cseresnyés I., Vozáry E., and Rajkai K., 2020. Does electrical capacitance represent roots in the soil? Acta Physiol. Plant., 42, 71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738....
7.
Dalton F.N., 1995. In-situ root extent measurements by electrical capacitance methods. Plant Soil, 173, 157-165. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf0015....
8.
Dietrich R.C., Bengough A.G., Jones H.G., and White P.J., 2012. A new physical interpretation of plant root capacitance. J. Exp. Bot., 63, 6149-6159. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/er....
9.
Ellis T., Murray W., Paul K., Kavalieris L., Brophy J., Williams C., and Maass M., 2013. Electrical capacitance as a rapid and non-invasive indicator of root length. Tree Physiol., 33, 3-17. https://doi.org/10.1093/treeph....
10.
Fageria N.K., 2013. The Role of Plant Roots in Crop Production. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, USA.
11.
Fang Y., Du Y., Wang J., Wu A., Qiao S., Xu B., Zhang S., Siddique K.H.M., and Chen Y., 2017. Moderate drought stress affected root growth and grain yield in old, modern and newly released cultivars of winter wheat. Front. Plant Sci., 8, 672. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2....
12.
Heřmanská A., Středa T., and Chloupek O., 2015. Improved wheat grain yield by a new method of root selection. Agron. Sustain. Dev., 35, 195-202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593....
13.
Klimek-Kopyra A., Zając T., Oleksy A., and Kulig B., 2018. Biological and production responses of intercropped plants of pea, spring wheat, and linseed. Acta Agrobotanica, 71, 1737. https://doi.org/10.5586/aa.173....
14.
Lithourgidis A.S., Vlachostergios D.N., Dordas C.A., and Damalas C.A., 2011. Dry matter yield, nitrogen content, and competition in pea-cereal intercropping systems. Eur. J. Agron., 34, 287-294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.....
15.
Mariotti M., Masoni A., Ercoli L., and Arduini I., 2009. Above- and below-ground competition between barley, wheat, lupin and vetch in a cereal and legume intercropping system. Grass Forage Sci., 64, 401-412. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365....
16.
Monti M., Pellicanò A., Santonoceto C., Preiti G., and Pristeri A., 2016. Yield components and nitrogen use in cereal-pea intercrops in Mediterranean environment. Field Crops Res., 196, 379-388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.....
17.
Nakhforoosh A., Grausgruber H., Kaul H-P., and Bodner G., 2014. Wheat root diversity and root functional characterization. Plant Soil, 380, 211-229. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104....
18.
Peruzzo L., Chou C., Wu Y., Schmutz M., Mary B., Wagner F.M., Petrov P., Newman G., Blancaflor E.B., Liu X., Ma X., and Hubbard S., 2020. Imaging of plant current pathways for non-invasive root phenotyping using a newly developed electrical current source density approach. Plant Soil, 450, 567-584. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104....
19.
Postic F., Beauchêne K., Gouache D., and Doussan C., 2019. Scanner-based minirhizotrons help to highlight relations between deep roots and yield in various wheat cultivars under combined water and nitrogen deficit conditions. Agronomy, 9, 297. https://doi.org/10.3390/agrono....
20.
Středa T., Dostál V., Horáková V., and Chloupek O., 2012. Effective use of water by wheat varieties with different root system sizes in rain-fed experiments in Central Europe. Agric. Water Manag., 104, 203-209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwa....
21.
Středa T., Haberle J., Klimešová J., Klimek-Kopyra A., Středová H., Bodner G., and Chloupek O., 2020. Field phenotyping of plant roots by electrical capacitance – a standardized methodological protocol for application in plant breeding: a review. Int. Agrophys., 34, 173-184. https://doi.org/10.31545/intag....
22.
Svačina P., Středa T., and Chloupek O., 2014. Uncommon selection by root system size increases barley yield. Agron. Sustain. Dev., 34, 545-551. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593....
23.
Wang C., Liu W., Li Q., Ma D., Lu H., Feng W., Xie Y., Zhu Y., and Gou T., 2014. Effects of different irrigation and nitrogen regimes on root growth and its correlation with above-ground plant parts in high-yielding wheat under field conditions. Field Crops Res., 165, 138-149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.....
24.
Wu W. and Ma B-L., 2016. A new method for assessing plant lodging and the impact of management options on lodging in canola crop production. Sci. Reports, 9, 31890. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep31....
25.
Yang B., Wang P., You D., and Liu W., 2018. Coupling evapotranspiration partitioning with root water uptake to identify the water consumption characteristics of winter wheat: A case study in the North China Plain. Agric. Forest Meteorol., 259, 296-304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrf....
Share
RELATED ARTICLE
We process personal data collected when visiting the website. The function of obtaining information about users and their behavior is carried out by voluntarily entered information in forms and saving cookies in end devices. Data, including cookies, are used to provide services, improve the user experience and to analyze the traffic in accordance with the Privacy policy. Data are also collected and processed by Google Analytics tool (more).
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.