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Meta-Analysis
. 2018 Apr 24;15(5):839.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph15050839.

Effect of Drought on Agronomic Traits of Rice and Wheat: A Meta-Analysis

Jinmeng Zhang  1   2 , Shiqiao Zhang  3   4 , Min Cheng  5   6 , Hong Jiang  7   8   9 , Xiuying Zhang  10   11 , Changhui Peng  12 , Xuehe Lu  13   14 , Minxia Zhang  15   16 , Jiaxin Jin  17
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Effect of Drought on Agronomic Traits of Rice and Wheat: A Meta-Analysis

Jinmeng Zhang et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Drought has been one of the most important limiting factors for crop production, which deleteriously affects food security worldwide. The main objective of the present study was to quantitatively assess the effect of drought on the agronomic traits (e.g., plant height, biomass, yield, and yield components) of rice and wheat in combination with several moderators (e.g., drought stress intensity, rooting environment, and growth stage) using a meta-analysis study. The database was created from 55 published studies on rice and 60 published studies on wheat. The results demonstrated that drought decreased the agronomic traits differently between rice and wheat among varying growth stages. Wheat and rice yields decreased by 27.5% and 25.4%, respectively. Wheat grown in pots showed greater decreases in agronomic traits than those grown in the field. Rice showed opposite growing patterns when compared to wheat in rooting environments. The effect of drought on rice increased with plant growth and drought had larger detrimental influences during the reproductive phase (e.g., blooming stage, filling stage, and maturity). However, an exception was found in wheat, which had similar decreased performance during the complete growth cycle. Based on these results, future droughts could produce lower yields of rice and wheat when compared to the current drought.

Keywords: agronomic traits; crop; drought; meta-analysis; yield.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Effect of drought on the agronomic traits of rice and wheat. Numbers near the symbols specify the number of data points and the error bars indicate a 95% confidence interval. Abbreviations for the agronomic traits are described in Table 2.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Response of rice and wheat to drought under different stress intensities. Numbers near the symbols specify the number of data points and the error bars indicate a 95% confidence interval. Abbreviations for the agronomic traits are described in Table 2 (a) Rice, (b) Wheat.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Response of rice and wheat to drought in different rooting environments. Numbers near the symbols specify the number of data points and the error bars indicate a 95% confidence interval (CI). Abbreviations for the agronomic traits are described in Table 2 (a) Rice, (b) Wheat.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Response of rice and wheat to drought at different growth stages. Numbers near the symbols specify the number of data points and the error bars indicate a 95% confidence interval.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Effect of drought on winter and spring wheat. Numbers near the symbols specify the number of data points and the error bars indicate a 95% confidence interval. Abbreviations for the agronomic traits are described in Table 2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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