Climate-Induced Changes in Functional Traits, Soil Hydraulic Properties, and Drought Resilience of Tropical Maize
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53560/PPASB(63-2)1132Keywords:
Climate Change, Drought Stress, Randomized Complete Block Design, Soil Moisture Dynamics, Water Use Efficiency, Tropical AgricultureAbstract
Change in soil-plant-water interactions and rising drought frequency are major impacts of climate change, especially on maize, which is very sensitive to climate change in the tropics. The present research aims to explore the changes in functional traits, soil hydraulic properties and drought resilience under different intensities of drought. A randomized complete block design with five replications per treatment was used in the controlled field experiment which was carried out in southern Nigeria for 112 days (16 weeks). Irrigation was varied for each treatment to cover rain regime ranging from control to mild, moderate and severe drought. At weekly intervals and at harvest, the following climatic variables, soil moisture, traits of maize, soil hydraulic properties and crop performance were measured. Statistical analysis (ANOVA) was used to assess the effects of treatment. Result showed that the drought condition led to increase in air and soil temperature, decrease in soil moisture and soil humidity. Maize exhibited adaptive responses such as stomatal closure and root growth and thickening of the tissues leading to better water use efficiency. The effect of drought on the soil hydraulic properties is clearly shown by reduction in field capacity, increase in wilting point and reduction in hydraulic conductivity. The biomass reduction ranged up to 48% and significant reduction was observed in survival and drought resistance index in worst cases. There was also an extreme reduction in grain yield to 2.2 ± 0.4 t/ha with a severe limitation in reproduction. Physiological adaptation to drought, as water use efficiency increased with drought. The results indicate that climatic, soil and plant variables interact in a complex way in drought resilience and integrated management practices such as drought-tolerant crops and precision irrigation will be crucial to ensure maize production under climate variability.
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