Are the interaction effects of warming and drought on nutritional status and biomass production in a tropical forage legume greater than their individual effects?

Author(s)

Olivera-Viciedo, Dilier ^[1] ; Prado, Renato de Mello ^[1] ; Martinez, Carlos A. ^[2] ; Habermann, Eduardo ^[2] ; Piccolo, Marisa de Cassia ^[3] ; Calero-Hurtado, Alexander ^[1] ; Barreto, Rafael Ferreira ^[1] ; Pena, Kolima ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Sao Paulo State Univ Julio de Mesquita Filho UNES, Dept Agr Prod Sci, Soils & Fertilizers Sect, Lab Plant Nutr, Via Acesso Prof Paulo Donato Castelane S-N, BR-14884900 Jaboticabal, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Biol, FFCLRP, Ribeirao Preto, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Ctr Nucl Energy Agr CENA, Lab Nutrient Cycling, Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: PLANTA; v. 254, n. 5 NOV 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Main conclusion Drought alone and drought plus warming will change the nutrient requirements and biomass distributions of Stylosanthes capitata, while warming will be advantageous only under well-watered condition for the next decades. Climate change effects on natural and managed ecosystems are difficult to predict due to its multi-factor nature. However, most studies that investigate the impacts of climate change factors on plants, such as warming or drought, were conducted under one single stress and controlled environments. In this study, we evaluated the effects of elevated temperature (+ 2 degrees C) (T) under different conditions of soil water availability (W) to understand the interactive effects of both factors on leaf, stem, and inflorescence macro and micronutrients concentration and biomass allocation of a tropical forage species, Stylosanthes capitata Vogel under field conditions. Temperature control was performed by a temperature free-air controlled enhancement (T-FACE) system. We observed that warming changed nutrient concentrations and plant growth depending on soil moisture levels, but the responses were specific for each plant organ. In general, we found that warming under well-watered conditions greatly improved nutrient concentration and biomass production, whilst the opposite effect was observed under non-irrigated and non-warmed conditions. However, under warmed and non-irrigated conditions, leaf biomass and leaf nutrient concentration were greatly reduced when compared to non-warmed and irrigated plants. Our findings suggest that warming (2 degrees C above ambient temperature) and drought, as well as both combined stresses, will change the nutrient requirements and biomass distributions between plant aerial organs of S. capitata in tropical ecosystems, which may impact animal feeding in the future. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 16/09742-8 - Water relations, gas exchange, leaf anatomy and thermographic analysis of two forage species under warming and drought stress at field conditions
• Grantee: Eduardo Habermann
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 08/58075-8 - Miniface climate-change impact experiment to analyze the effects of elevated CO2 and warming on photosynthesis, gene expression, biochemistry, growth, nutrient dynamics and yield of two contrasting tropical forage species
• Grantee: Carlos Alberto Martinez y Huaman
• Support Opportunities: Research Program on Global Climate Change - Thematic Grants