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Variation in Water‐Use Efficiency and Its Relation to Carbon Isotope Ratio in Cotton
Author(s) -
Saranga Yehoshua,
Flash Igal,
Yakir Dan
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1998.0011183x003800030027x
Subject(s) - water use efficiency , cultivar , dry matter , biology , gossypium barbadense , fiber crop , agronomy , photosynthesis , irrigation , malvaceae , botany , gossypium hirsutum
Cotton ( Gossypium spp.) is often exposed to drought, which adversely affects both yield and quality. Improved water‐use efficiency (WUE = total dry matter produced or yield harvested / water used) is expected to reduce these adverse effects. Genetic variability in WUE and its association with photosynthetic rate and carbon isotope ratio ( 13 C/ 12 C) in cotton are reported in this paper. WUE of six cotton cuitivars— G. hirsutum L., G. barbadense L., and an interspecific F I hybrid ( G. hirsutum ✕ G. barbadense , ISH), was examined under two irrigation regimes in two field trials. The greatest WUE was obtained by two G. hirsutum cultivars (2.55 g dry matter or 1.12 g seed‐cotton L −1 H 2 O); the ISH obtained similar or somewhat lower values, and two G. barbadense cultivars and one G. hirsutum cultivar exhibited the lowest values (2.1 g dry matter or 0.8 to 0.85 g seedcotton L −1 H 2 O). These results indicate that different cotton cultivars may have evolved different environmental adaptations that affect their WUE. Photosynthetic rate was correlated with WUE in only a few cases, emphasizing the limitation of this parameter as a basis for estimating crop WUE. Under both trials, WUE was positively correlated with carbon isotope ratio, indicating the potential of this technique as a selection criterion for improving cotton WUE