A new method of irrigation was designed and tested for its water use efficiency (WUE). Maize plants were grown in pots with their roots divided and established into two or three separated containers of which irrigation and soil drying were controlled alternately. Results showed that when the two halves of the root system were alternatively exposed to a drying soil and a soil with its water cont...

Identifying the effects of grazing is critical for the conservation, protection and sustainable use of arid grassland ecosystems. However, research regarding the ecological effects of grazing along mountainous elevation gradients is limited in arid areas, particularly at the regional scale. Using the Biome-BGC grazing model, we explored the effects of grazing on grassland net primary productivi...

crucial for the survival of agriculture in northeastern Colorado. Improper N and irrigation management are major factors contribThe relationships of corn yield and nitrate leaching uting to water quality and shortage problems in the Great Plains. with irrigation, N fertilization, and plant population This study was conducted on the Irrigation Research Farm in Yuma, have been extensively investi...

Winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) monoculture is conventionally cultivated followed by two to three months of summer fallow in the Loess Plateau. To develop a sustainable cropping system, we conducted a six-year field experiment to investigate the effect of leguminous green manure (LGM) instead of bare fallow on the yield and water use efficiency (WUE) of winter wheat and the soil water balan...

Forests are becoming increasingly vulnerable to rising tree mortality rates in response to warming and drought. In California, the most severe drought on record occurred from 2012 to 2016 and high tree mortality rates were observed in response to this prolonged drought. Differences in satellite-derived estimates of water-use efficiency (WUE) under normal (i.e., WUEBASELINE) and drought conditio...

The target of Rapamycin (TOR) present in all eukaryotes is a multifunctional protein, regulating growth, development, protein translation, ribosome biogenesis, nutrient, and energy signaling. In the present study, ectopic expression of TOR gene of Arabidopsis thaliana in a widely cultivated indica rice resulted in enhanced plant growth under water-limiting conditions conferring agronomically im...

The development of superior genetic materials points out the need to identify parameters for early selection of superior genotypes. The aim of this research was to identify possible correlations between young-adult materials, based on their photosynthetic capacity determined in five genotypes evaluated at nursery and 15-months-old field stages. Light response curves and gas exchange were genera...

Hybrids can exhibit unique combinations of the physiological traits of their parents. These particular combinations may influence hybrid fitness and the evolutionary trajectory of a hybrid zone. Here, a hybrid zone between Penstemon newberryi and Penstemon davidsonii along an elevational gradient was examined, and physiological traits of parents and hybrids were measured in their native environ...

Water available for irrigation is declining in many rice-growing regions around the world. Global populations continue to rise increasing crop production demand. Rice production systems must face the dilemma of maintaining or increasing yields with less water available to irrigate. Alternate wetting and drying (AWD) has shown to be an effective tool for water conservation in irrigated rice syst...

The interest in techniques to improve water use efficiency (WUE) such as controlled deficit irrigation is rising due to the emergence of strong competition for fresh water in order to comply with the increased demand for food worldwide. Additionally, the use of crop models in conjunction with complex decision support systems becomes more and more widespread making it essential to reliably predi...