Why is sorghum drought tolerant?
Drought tolerance depends on the plant developmental stage at the onset of the stress syndrome, which in sorghum may happen during the early vegetative seedling stage, during panicle development and in post- flowering, in the period between grain filling and physiological maturity93,94.
What does drought stressed mean?
Drought stress can be simply defined as a shortage of water which induces dramatic morphological, biochemical, physiological, and molecular changes. All of these changes reduce plant growth and crop production.
What causes drought stress?
Drought (water stress) is one of the most important environmental stresses and occurs for several reasons, including low rainfall, salinity, high and low temperatures, and high intensity of light, among others.
What is drought stress in plant terms?
Drought stress in plants is characterized by reduced leaf water potential and turgor pressure, stomatal closure, and decreased cell growth and enlargement (Farooq et al., 2009b).
How much rain does sorghum need?
During the 5-w^eek period from heading to flowering, sorghum requires a minimum of 0,1 inch of water a day for normal growth and 0.15 inch for high yields, llainfall during this period is rarely equal to such require- ments, so that some w^ater stored in the soil is needed to produce a good crop.
How much water does sorghum need?
Although water needs decline slightly after booting, a sorghum crop still requires 2 to 3 inches of water every 10 days. Irrigating during heading and flowering generally produces an increase of 1,200 to 1,500 pounds per acre.
What are the effects of drought?
Examples of drought impacts on society include anxiety or depression about economic losses, conflicts when there is not enough water, reduced incomes, fewer recreational activities, higher incidents of heat stroke, and even loss of human life. Drought conditions can also provide a substantial increase in wildfire risk.
How does drought affect water?
The main impacts of droughts include water supply problems, shortages and deterioration of quality, intrusion of saline water in groundwater bodies and increased pollution of receiving water bodies (i.e. there is less water to dilute pollutant discharges) and drops in groundwater levels.
What is drought stress and its effects?
Drought stress reduces leaf size, stem extension and root proliferation, disturbs plant water relations and reduces water-use efficiency. Plants display a variety of physiological and biochemical responses at cellular and whole-organism levels towards prevailing drought stress, thus making it a complex phenomenon.
What are effects of drought?
How does a drought affect plants?
Without adequate water, biological processes, such as photosynthesis, are greatly reduced. Reduced photosynthesis means reduced plant growth, including root growth. Besides the direct effects of drought, a plant under stress becomes more susceptible to insect and disease problems that can attack a weakened plant.