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Pulse Root Ideotype for Water Stress in Temperate Cropping System.

ABSTRACT: Pulses are a key component of crop production systems in Southern Australia due to their rotational benefits and potential profit margins. However, cultivation in temperate cropping systems such as that of Southern Australia is limited by low soil water availability and subsoil constraints. This limitation of soil water is compounded by the irregular rainfall, resulting in the absence of plant available water at depth. An increase in the productivity of key pulses and expansion into environments and soil types traditionally considered marginal for their growth will require improved use of the limited soil water and adaptation to sub soil constrains. Roots serve as the interface between soil constraints and the whole plant. Changes in root system architecture (RSA) can be utilised as an adaptive strategy in achieving yield potential under limited rainfall, heterogenous distribution of resources and other soil-based constraints. The existing literature has identified a "'Steep, Deep and Cheap" root ideotype as a preferred RSA. However, this idiotype is not efficient in a temperate system where plant available water is limited at depth. In addition, this root ideotype and other root architectural studies have focused on cereal crops, which have different structures and growth patterns to pulses due to their monocotyledonous nature and determinant growth habit. The paucity of pulse-specific root architectural studies warrants further investigations into pulse RSA, which should be combined with an examination of the existing variability of known genetic traits so as to develop strategies to alleviate production constraints through either tolerance or avoidance mechanisms. This review proposes a new model of root system architecture of "Wide, Shallow and Fine" roots based on pulse roots in temperate cropping systems. The proposed ideotype has, in addition to other root traits, a root density concentrated in the upper soil layers to capture in-season rainfall before it is lost due to evaporation. The review highlights the potential to achieve this in key pulse crops including chickpea, lentil, faba bean, field pea and lupin. Where possible, comparisons to determinate crops such as cereals have also been made. The review identifies the key root traits that have shown a degree of adaptation via tolerance or avoidance to water stress and documents the current known variability that exists in and amongst pulse crops setting priorities for future research.

SUBMITTER: Rao S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8067327 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The association of plants and microbial communities is crucial for crop production, and host plants influence the composition of rhizosphere microbiomes. Pulse crops play an important role in the development of sustainable cropping systems, and producers in the Canadian prairies often increase the frequency of pulses in their cropping systems. In this study, we determined the shifts in the fungal community of pea (Pisum sativum L.) rhizosphere, as influenced by the frequency of pulses in rotation, using high throughput sequencing. Six cropping systems containing pea (P), lentil (Lens culinaris Medik., L), hybrid canola (Brassica napus L., C), wheat (Triticum aestivum L., W), and oat (Avena sativa L., O) in different intensities were tested. The fungal communities were assessed at the flowering stage in the fourth and fifth year of the 4-year rotations. Cropping system had a significant impact on the composition of the rhizosphere fungal community, and the effect of crop rotation sequence was greater and explained more of the variation than the effect of previous crops. The rotation with consecutive pulses (WPLP) decreased fungal evenness and increased the proportion of pathotrophs. Fusarium was a dominant and ubiquitous pathotrophic genus. Olpidium virulentus, Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium solani, F. graminearum, and Alternaria eichhorniae were generally more abundant in pulse intensive rotations (WPLP, WLOP, and WPOP), the exception being F. solani which was not promoted by lentil. Reads of O. virulentus and B. cinerea were most abundant in pea preceded by lentil followed by the reads of Mortierella elongata in pea preceded by wheat. Pea consistently had higher grain yield when grown in diversified rotations including wheat, canola/lentil, and oat than rotations with two repeated crops (canola or pea). Cropping system affected the soil physicochemical properties, and soil pH was the main driver of fungal community shift. No evidence of beneficial microorganisms involvement in plant productivity was observed, but the high abundance of pathotrophs in pulse intensified rotations suggests the possibility of pathogen buildup in the soil with increasing pulse frequency. Diversifying rotation sequences minimized disease risk and increased pea production, in this study. Careful selection of plant species appears as a strategy for the management of rhizosphere fungal communities and the maintenance of crop production system's health.

Project description:BackgroundThe soil biota consists of a complex assembly of microbial communities and other organisms that vary significantly across farming systems, impacting soil health and plant productivity. Despite its importance, there has been limited exploration of how different cropping systems influence soil and plant root microbiomes. In this study, we investigated soil physicochemical properties, along with soil and maize-root microbiomes, in an agroecological cereal-legume companion cropping system known as push-pull technology (PPT). This system has been used in agriculture for over two decades for insect-pest management, soil health improvement, and weed control in sub-Saharan Africa. We compared the results with those obtained from maize-monoculture (Mono) cropping system.ResultsThe PPT cropping system changed the composition and diversity of soil and maize-root microbial communities, and led to notable improvements in soil physicochemical characteristics compared to that of the Mono cropping system. Distinct bacterial and fungal genera played a crucial role in influencing the variation in microbial diversity within these cropping systems. The relative abundance of fungal genera Trichoderma, Mortierella, and Bionectria and bacterial genera Streptomyces, RB41, and Nitrospira were more enriched in PPT. These microbial communities are associated with essential ecosystem services such as plant protection, decomposition, carbon utilization, bioinsecticides production, nitrogen fixation, nematode suppression, phytohormone production, and bioremediation. Conversely, pathogenic associated bacterial genus including Bryobacter were more enriched in Mono-root. Additionally, the Mono system exhibited a high relative abundance of fungal genera such as Gibberella, Neocosmospora, and Aspergillus, which are linked to plant diseases and food contamination. Significant differences were observed in the relative abundance of the inferred metabiome functional protein pathways including syringate degradation, L-methionine biosynthesis I, and inosine 5'-phosphate degradation.ConclusionPush-pull cropping system positively influences soil and maize-root microbiomes and enhances soil physicochemical properties. This highlights its potential for agricultural and environmental sustainability. These findings contribute to our understanding of the diverse ecosystem services offered by this cropping system where it is practiced regarding the system's resilience and functional redundancy. Future research should focus on whether PPT affects the soil and maize-root microbial communities through the release of plant metabolites from the intercrop root exudates or through the alteration of the soil's nutritional status, which affects microbial enzymatic activities.

Project description:BackgroundDesmodium species used as intercrops in push-pull cropping systems are known to repel insect-pests, suppress Striga species weeds, and shift soil microbiome. However, the mechanisms through which Desmodium species impact the soil microbiome, either through its root exudates, changes in soil nutrition, or shading microbes from its nodules into the rhizosphere, are less understood. Here, we investigated the diversity of root-nodule microbial communities of three Desmodium species- Desmodium uncinatum (SLD), Desmodium intortum (GLD), and Desmodium incanum (AID) which are currently used in smallholder maize push-pull technology (PPT).MethodsDesmodium species root-nodule samples were collected from selected smallholder farms in western Kenya, and genomic DNA was extracted from the root-nodules. The amplicons underwent paired-end Illumina sequencing to assess bacterial and fungal populations.ResultsWe found no significant differences in composition and relative abundance of bacterial and fungal species within the root-nodules of the three Desmodium species. While a more pronounced shift was observed for fungal community compositions compared to bacteria, no significant differences were observed in the general diversity (evenness and richness) of fungal and bacterial populations among the three Desmodium species. Similarly, beta diversity was not significantly different among the three Desmodium species. The root-nodule microbiome of the three Desmodium species was dominated by Bradyrhizobium and Fusarium species. Nevertheless, there were significant differences in the proportion of marker gene sequences responsible for energy and amino acid biosynthesis among the three Desmodium species, with higher sequence proportions observed in SLD.ConclusionThere is no significant difference in the microbial community of the three Desmodium species used in PPT. However, root-nodule microbiome of SLD had significantly higher marker gene sequences responsible for energy and amino acid biosynthesis. Therefore, it is likely that the root-nodules of the three Desmodium species host similar microbiomes and influence soil health, consequently impacting plant growth and agroecosystem functioning.

Project description:Root-hemiparasitic plants of the genus Rhinanthus acquire resources through a water-wasting physiological strategy based on high transpiration rate mediated by the accumulation of osmotically active compounds and constantly open stomata. Interestingly, they were also documented to withstand moderate water stress which agrees with their common occurrence in rather dry habitats. Here, we focused on the water-stress physiology of Rhinanthus alectorolophus by examining gas exchange, water relations, stomatal density, and biomass production and its stable isotope composition in adult plants grown on wheat under contrasting (optimal and drought-inducing) water treatments. We also tested the effect of water stress on the survival of Rhinanthus seedlings, which were watered either once (after wheat sowing), twice (after wheat sowing and the hemiparasite planting) or continuously (twice and every sixth day after that). Water shortage significantly reduced seedling survival as well as the biomass production and gas exchange of adult hemiparasites. In spite of that drought-stressed and even wilted plants from both treatments still considerably photosynthesized and transpired. Strikingly, low-irrigated plants exhibited significantly elevated photosynthetic rate compared with high-irrigated plants of the same water status. This might relate to biochemical adjustments of these plants enhancing the resource uptake from the host. Moreover, low-irrigated plants did not acclimatize to water stress by lowering their osmotic potential, perhaps due to the capability to tolerate drought without such an adjustment, as their osmotic potential at full turgor was already low. Contrary to results of previous studies, hemiparasites seem to close their stomata in response to severe drought stress and this happens probably passively after turgor is lost in guard cells. The physiological traits of hemiparasites, namely the low osmotic potential associated with their parasitic lifestyle and the ability to withstand drought and recover from the wilting likely enable them to grow in dry habitats. However, the absence of osmotic adjustment of adults and sensitivity of seedlings to severe drought stress demonstrated here may result in a substantial decline of the hemiparasitic species with ongoing climate change.

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Pulse Root Ideotype for Water Stress in Temperate Cropping System.

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