scholarly journals Strengthening the Practical Application of Experiments Assessing Maize Drought Tolerance

Author(s):  
Qinbin Zhang ◽  
Wei Wang

Drought is among the most important abiotic stressors influencing food-crop production worldwide. Currently, drought-tolerant maize materials are rarely used for actual breeding because corn production primarily focuses on heterosis to generate desired varieties. In this article, we reviewed current work on assessing maize drought tolerance. We suggested that the development of enhanced screening techniques must clearly consider the connection between theory and application. We strongly recommend that agricultural scientists focus on translating the results of laboratory experiments into practical methods for improving crop productivity.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongdu Chen ◽  
Chunchun Xu ◽  
Long Ji ◽  
fuping fang

Abstract [Background]Agricultural production systems are facing the challenges of increasing food production while reducing environmental cost, particularly in China. Understanding the eco-efficiency of the staple food crop production contributes to sustainable agriculture. In this study, the eco-efficiency of rice, wheat and maize production within the carbon (C) footprints (CF) and nitrogen (N) footprint (NF) at a province scale based on 555 farm survey data from China was measured in which a combination of life cycle assessment (LCA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used. [Results] The results showed that the synthetic N fertilizer applications and CH4 emissions dominated the CF of crop production, while NH3 volatilization was the main contributors to the NF in the grain crop production process. Based on DEA-based sustainability performance assessment results, the eco-efficiency of major cereal crops production were all found to be inefficient (eco-efficiency <1). An increase in yields had only limited effects on improvement in eco-efficiency of rice, wheat and corn production because the yield increase potential rates were very small (0.1~3.4%), and there were no significant differences in increase potentials of yields between provinces. From a perspective of environmental impact reduction potential rates, GWP (22.7~25.1%) was more important for the environmental mitigation target than Nr (10.9~17.9%) in rice production, but the opposite scenario appears in wheat and corn production. [Conclusions] Improving crop management practices by reducing N fertilizer use and adopting water-saving irrigation technology could be strategic options to mitigate climate change and eutrophication and improve the eco-efficiency of the staple food crop production in Chinese agriculture.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
zhongdu chen ◽  
chunchun xu ◽  
long ji ◽  
fuping fang

Abstract Agricultural production systems are facing the challenges of increasing food production while reducing environmental cost, particularly in China. Understanding the eco-efficiency of the staple food crop production contributes to sustainable agriculture. In this study, the eco-efficiency of rice, wheat and maize production within the carbon (C) footprints (CF) and nitrogen (N) footprint (NF) at a province scale based on 555 farm survey data from China was measured in which a combination of life cycle assessment (LCA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used. The results showed that the CF for the rice, wheat and maize was 0.87±0.32, 0.30± 0.11, and 0.24 ± 0.06 kg CO 2 -eq kg −1 year −1 at yield-scale, respectively. In addition, the NF was 17.11±7.73, 14.26±5.73, and 6.83±1.83 gN-eq kg −1 year −1 at yield-scale for the rice, wheat and maize, respectively. Synthetic N fertilizer applications and CH 4 emissions dominated the CF of crop production, while NH 3 volatilization was the main contributors to the NF in the grain crop production process. Based on DEA-based sustainability performance assessment results, the eco-efficiency of major cereal crops production were all found to be inefficient (eco-efficiency <1). An increase in yields had only limited effects on improvement in eco-efficiency of rice, wheat and corn production because the yield increase potential rates were very small (0.1~3.4%), and there were no significant differences in increase potentials of yields between provinces. From a perspective of environmental impact reduction potential rates, GWP (22.7~25.1%) was more important for the environmental mitigation target than Nr (10.9~17.9%) in rice production, but the opposite scenario appears in wheat and corn production. Improving crop management practices by reducing N fertilizer use and adopting water-saving irrigation technology could be strategic options to mitigate climate change and eutrophication and improve the eco-efficiency of the staple food crop production in Chinese agriculture.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Toendepi Shonhe

The reinvestment of rural agrarian surplus is driving capital accumulation in Zimbabwe's countryside, providing a scope to foster national (re-) industrialisation and job creation. Contrary to Bernstein's view, the Agrarian Question on capital remains unresolved in Southern Africa. Even though export finance, accessed through contract farming, provides an impetus for export cash crop production, and the government-mediated command agriculture supports food crop production, the reinvestment of proceeds from the sale of agricultural commodities is now driving capital accumulation. Drawing from empirical data, gathered through surveys and in-depth interviews from Hwedza district and Mvurwi farming area in Mazowe district in Zimbabwe, the findings of this study revealed the pre-eminence of the Agrarian Question, linked to an ongoing agrarian transition in Zimbabwe. This agrarian capital elaborates rural-urban interconnections and economic development, following two decades of de-industrialisation in Zimbabwe. 


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1534
Author(s):  
Chandra Mohan Singh ◽  
Poornima Singh ◽  
Chandrakant Tiwari ◽  
Shalini Purwar ◽  
Mukul Kumar ◽  
...  

Drought stress is considered a severe threat to crop production. It adversely affects the morpho-physiological, biochemical and molecular functions of the plants, especially in short duration crops like mungbean. In the past few decades, significant progress has been made towards enhancing climate resilience in legumes through classical and next-generation breeding coupled with omics approaches. Various defence mechanisms have been reported as key players in crop adaptation to drought stress. Many researchers have identified potential donors, QTLs/genes and candidate genes associated to drought tolerance-related traits. However, cloning and exploitation of these loci/gene(s) in breeding programmes are still limited. To bridge the gap between theoretical research and practical breeding, we need to reveal the omics-assisted genetic variations associated with drought tolerance in mungbean to tackle this stress. Furthermore, the use of wild relatives in breeding programmes for drought tolerance is also limited and needs to be focused. Even after six years of decoding the whole genome sequence of mungbean, the genome-wide characterization and expression of various gene families and transcriptional factors are still lacking. Due to the complex nature of drought tolerance, it also requires integrating high throughput multi-omics approaches to increase breeding efficiency and genomic selection for rapid genetic gains to develop drought-tolerant mungbean cultivars. This review highlights the impact of drought stress on mungbean and mitigation strategies for breeding high-yielding drought-tolerant mungbean varieties through classical and modern omics technologies.


Author(s):  
S. Suthipradit ◽  
L. Nualsri ◽  
P. Sophanodora ◽  
Y. Limchitti ◽  
N. Kungpisdan

2021 ◽  
pp. 53-64
Author(s):  
Mirza Mofazzal Islam ◽  
Shamsun Nahar Begum ◽  
Rigyan Gupta

Abstract Drought is an important stress phenomenon in Bangladesh that greatly hampers crop production. So, it is imperative to develop drought-tolerant rice varieties. Low-yielding, non-uniform flowering and late-maturing Africa rice - New Rice for Africa (NERICA), viz. NERICA-1, NERICA-4 and NERICA-10 varieties - were irradiated with different doses of gamma-rays (250, 300 and 350 Gy) in 2010. M1 plants were grown and M2 plants were selected based on earliness and higher grain yield. The desired mutants along with other mutants were grown as the M3 generation during 2011. A total of 37 mutants from NERICA-1, NERICA-4 and NERICA-10 were selected on the basis of plant height, short duration, drought tolerance and high yield in the M4 generation. In the M5 generation, six mutants were selected for drought tolerance, earliness, grain quality and higher yield. With respect to days to maturity and grain yield (t/ha), the mutant N1/250/P-2-6-1 of NERICA-1 matured earlier (108 days) and had higher grain yield (5.1 t/ha) than the parent. The mutant N4/350/P-4(5) of NERICA-4 also showed a higher grain yield (6.2 t/ha) than its parent and other mutants. On the other hand, NERICA-10 mutant N10/350/P-5-4 matured earlier and had a higher yield (4.5 t/ha) than its parent. Finally, based on agronomic performance and drought tolerance, the two mutants N4/350/P-4(5) and N10/350/P-5-4 were selected and were evaluated in drought-prone and upland areas during 2016 and 2017. These two mutants performed well with higher grain yield than the released upland rice varieties. They will be released soon for commercial cultivation and are anticipated to play a vital role in food security in Bangladesh.


2019 ◽  
Vol 69 (232) ◽  
pp. 105-117
Author(s):  
Suwastika Naidu ◽  
Atishwar Pandaram ◽  
Anand Chand

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 93
Author(s):  
Monday Sunday Adiaha

Corn possesses significances nutrients, minerals and vitamins, which provides nutrition in animal diet as well as man. Its health benefits have been countless since the prehistoric era. Maize has been revealed to have the potential to sustained human health-related cases, raise standard of living of farmers, served as a soil fertility indicator crop, generate income and increase food-crop production for the increasing human population. Industrial utilization of maize has been shown to include: wet milling, production of bio-fuel, ethanol and other sub-byproducts.


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