Water and Nutrient Use Efficiency in Diploid, Tetraploid and Hexaploid Wheats

Three diploid (Triticum boeoticum, AA; Aegilops speltoides, BB and Ae. tauschii, DD), two tetraplold (T. dlcoccoides,AABB and T. dicoccon, AABB) and one hexaploid (T. vulgare, AABBDD) varieties of wheat, which are very important in the evolution of wheat were chosen in this study. A pot experiment was carried out on the wheat under different water and nutrient conditions (i) to understand the differences in biomass, yield, water use efficiency (WUE), and nutrient (N, P and K) use efficiency (uptake and utilization efficiency) among ploldles in the evolution of wheat; (ii) to clarify the effect of water and nutrient conditions on water and nutrient use efficiency; and (iii) to assess the relationship of water and nutrient use efficiency in the evolution of wheat. Our results showed that from diploid to tetraploid then to hexaploid during the evolution of wheat, both root biomass and above-ground biomass increased initially and then decreased. Water consumption for transpiration decreased remarkably, correlating with the decline of the growth period, while grain yield, harvest index, WUE, N, P and K uptake efficiency, and N, P and K utilization efficiency increased significantly. Grain yield, harvest index and WUE decreased in the same order: T.vulgare ＞ T. dicoccon ＞ T. dicoccoides ＞ Ae. tauschii ＞ Ae. speltoides ＞ T. boeoticum. Water stress significantly decreased root biomass, above-ground biomass, yield, and water consumption for transpiration by 47-52%, butremarkably increased WUE. Increasing the nutrient supply increased wheat above-ground biomass, grain yield,harvest index, water consumption for transpiration and WUE under different water levels, but reduced root biomass under drought conditions. Generally, water stress and low nutrient supply resulted in the lower nutrientuptake efficiency of wheat. However, water and nutrient application had no significant effects on nutrient utilization efficiency, suggesting that wheat nutrient utilization efficiency is mainly controlled by genotypes. Compared to theother two diploid wheats, Ae. squarrosa (DD) had significant higher WUE and nutrient utilization efficiency, Indicating that the D genome may carry genes controlling high efficient utilization of water and nutrient. Significant relationships were found between WUE and N, P and K utilization efficiency.