Enhancing water use efficiency in wheat : 40 Years of genetic gains in the Argentine Pampas

Understanding the impact of breeding on water use and productivity, particularly in underexplored environments where pre-anthesis rainfall is often limited, is crucial for increasing wheat grain yield (GY) under future climatic scenarios. The aim of this work was to study the effects of breeding on...

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Main Authors: Curin, Facundo, Otegui, María Elena, Gonzalez, Fernanda Gabriela
Format: info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/22167
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1161030125001169
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2025.127620
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author Curin, Facundo
Otegui, María Elena
Gonzalez, Fernanda Gabriela
author_browse Curin, Facundo
Gonzalez, Fernanda Gabriela
Otegui, María Elena
author_facet Curin, Facundo
Otegui, María Elena
Gonzalez, Fernanda Gabriela
author_sort Curin, Facundo
collection INTA Digital
description Understanding the impact of breeding on water use and productivity, particularly in underexplored environments where pre-anthesis rainfall is often limited, is crucial for increasing wheat grain yield (GY) under future climatic scenarios. The aim of this work was to study the effects of breeding on GY and its physiological determinants, including water use and water use efficiency among cultivars released to the Argentine market over a 40-year period. Ten Argentinean cultivars classified into early cycle (EC) and late cycle (LC), based on time to anthesis, were grown across three seasons (2015, 2016, and 2017) under irrigated, rainfed, and water restricted conditions. Breeding increased GY by enhancing the harvest index (HI) in LC cultivars and the total biomass (BT) in EC cultivars. These improvements were accompanied by increases in water use efficiency for grain yield production (WUEGY,ETc) of 1.11 % and 0.45 % per year among LC and EC cultivars, respectively, and a 0.29 % per year improvement in water use efficiency for biomass production (WUEBT,ETc) among EC cultivars. Crop evapotranspiration (ETC) decreased by 0.16 % per year exclusively in LC cultivars. Transpiration use efficiency (TE) improved by 0.55 % and 0.45 % per year for LC and EC cultivars, respectively, driven by increases in radiation use efficiency (RUE) of 0.46 % and 0.24 % per year. Notably, no changes in canopy conductance (gC) were observed. Finally, the proportion of water transpired before anthesis (pPREANT TC) decreased by 0.45 % per year in LC cultivars. The results of this study indicate that genetic improvement in Argentina has enhanced GY by increasing WUE and RUE, rather than total ETC. This is a particularly beneficial outcome for rainfed farming systems with limited water availability.
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institution Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA -Argentina)
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spelling INTA221672025-05-06T12:57:24Z Enhancing water use efficiency in wheat : 40 Years of genetic gains in the Argentine Pampas Curin, Facundo Otegui, María Elena Gonzalez, Fernanda Gabriela Trigo Mejoramiento Genético Argentina Uso del Agua Wheat Genetic Improvement Water Use Evapotranspiration Evapotranspiración Región Pampeana Early-cycle Cultivars Late-cycle Cultivars Radiation Use Efficiency Understanding the impact of breeding on water use and productivity, particularly in underexplored environments where pre-anthesis rainfall is often limited, is crucial for increasing wheat grain yield (GY) under future climatic scenarios. The aim of this work was to study the effects of breeding on GY and its physiological determinants, including water use and water use efficiency among cultivars released to the Argentine market over a 40-year period. Ten Argentinean cultivars classified into early cycle (EC) and late cycle (LC), based on time to anthesis, were grown across three seasons (2015, 2016, and 2017) under irrigated, rainfed, and water restricted conditions. Breeding increased GY by enhancing the harvest index (HI) in LC cultivars and the total biomass (BT) in EC cultivars. These improvements were accompanied by increases in water use efficiency for grain yield production (WUEGY,ETc) of 1.11 % and 0.45 % per year among LC and EC cultivars, respectively, and a 0.29 % per year improvement in water use efficiency for biomass production (WUEBT,ETc) among EC cultivars. Crop evapotranspiration (ETC) decreased by 0.16 % per year exclusively in LC cultivars. Transpiration use efficiency (TE) improved by 0.55 % and 0.45 % per year for LC and EC cultivars, respectively, driven by increases in radiation use efficiency (RUE) of 0.46 % and 0.24 % per year. Notably, no changes in canopy conductance (gC) were observed. Finally, the proportion of water transpired before anthesis (pPREANT TC) decreased by 0.45 % per year in LC cultivars. The results of this study indicate that genetic improvement in Argentina has enhanced GY by increasing WUE and RUE, rather than total ETC. This is a particularly beneficial outcome for rainfed farming systems with limited water availability. EEA Pergamino Fil: Curín, Facundo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencias del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencias del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Antonio de Areco. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencias del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Curín, Facundo. Universidad Nacional del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Otegui, María Elena. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Pergamino; Argentina Fil: Otegui, María E. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Otegui, María E. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Producción Vegetal; Argentina Fil: González, Fernanda G. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Pergamino. Sección Ecofisiología; Argentina Fil: González, Fernanda G. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencias del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencias del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Antonio de Areco. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencias del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: González, Fernanda G. Universidad Nacional del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Argentina 2025-05-06T12:47:46Z 2025-05-06T12:47:46Z 2025-04 info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/22167 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1161030125001169 1161-0301 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2025.127620 eng info:eu-repograntAgreement/INTA/2023-PD-L01-I102, Bases ecofisiológicas para mejorar la adaptación de los cultivos a la variabilidad ambiental mediante el manejo agronómico y el mejoramiento genético info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) application/pdf Elsevier European Journal of Agronomy 168 : 127620. (July 2025)
spellingShingle Trigo
Mejoramiento Genético
Argentina
Uso del Agua
Wheat
Genetic Improvement
Water Use
Evapotranspiration
Evapotranspiración
Región Pampeana
Early-cycle Cultivars
Late-cycle Cultivars
Radiation Use Efficiency
Curin, Facundo
Otegui, María Elena
Gonzalez, Fernanda Gabriela
Enhancing water use efficiency in wheat : 40 Years of genetic gains in the Argentine Pampas
title Enhancing water use efficiency in wheat : 40 Years of genetic gains in the Argentine Pampas
title_full Enhancing water use efficiency in wheat : 40 Years of genetic gains in the Argentine Pampas
title_fullStr Enhancing water use efficiency in wheat : 40 Years of genetic gains in the Argentine Pampas
title_full_unstemmed Enhancing water use efficiency in wheat : 40 Years of genetic gains in the Argentine Pampas
title_short Enhancing water use efficiency in wheat : 40 Years of genetic gains in the Argentine Pampas
title_sort enhancing water use efficiency in wheat 40 years of genetic gains in the argentine pampas
topic Trigo
Mejoramiento Genético
Argentina
Uso del Agua
Wheat
Genetic Improvement
Water Use
Evapotranspiration
Evapotranspiración
Región Pampeana
Early-cycle Cultivars
Late-cycle Cultivars
Radiation Use Efficiency
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/22167
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1161030125001169
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2025.127620
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