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Novel wheat varieties facilitate deep sowing to beat the heat of changing climates

Nature Climate Change volume 12, pages 291–296 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Wheat yields are threatened by global warming and unreliable rainfall, which increase heat and drought stress. A potential adaptation strategy is to sow earlier and deeper, taking advantage of stored soil water. However, the short coleoptiles of modern semi-dwarf wheat varieties reduce emergence when sown deep. Novel genotypes with alternative dwarfing genes have longer coleoptiles to facilitate deep sowing, but the yield benefit has been uncertain. We validated new crop simulation routines with field data to assess the impact of novel genotypes on Australian wheat production. We predict that these genotypes, coupled with deep sowing, can increase national wheat yields by 18–20% under historical climate (1901–2020), without increased yield variability, with benefits also projected under future warming. These benefits are likely to extend to other dryland wheat production regions globally. Our results highlight the impact of synergy between new genetics and management systems to adapt food production to future climates.

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Fig. 1: Comparison of coleoptile length effects on early wheat establishment sown at 120 mm depth.
Fig. 2: Framework for modelling the impact of early establishment in APSIM Next Generation and model validation for the simulation of coleoptile length, emergence capacity and grain yield.
Fig. 3: Mean annual yield benefit (1901–2020) of novel GAS wheat varieties (long coleoptiles and greater early vigour) sown at 120 mm depth compared with baseline wheat sown at 45 mm depth at 37 sites.
Fig. 4: Simulated wheat grain yield and yield benefit under past climate change and projected future warming in Australia.

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Data availability

The data used in this study will be available in the CSIRO Data Access Portal: https://data.csiro.au/collection/csiro:53658 (ref. 52). Source data are provided with this paper.

Code availability

The computer code of APSIM NG is available in the GitHub repository: https://github.com/APSIMInitiative/ApsimX (refs. 53,54).

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the CSIRO’s Strategic Investment Project (SIP) ‘SIP268: Modelling informed trait/germplasm phenotyping’. We thank H. E. Brown for constructive discussions held during the period of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Agriculture & Food, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Zhigan Zhao, Enli Wang, John A. Kirkegaard & Greg J. Rebetzke

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  1. Zhigan Zhao
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Contributions

Z.Z., E.W., J.A.K. and G.J.R. designed the study. G.J.R. provided the experimental data. Z.Z. and E.W. constructed the model, undertook model testing and carried out the crop model simulations. Z.Z., E.W., J.A.K. and G.J.R. undertook the analysis of the simulation results and contributed to writing and revising the paper.

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Correspondence to Enli Wang.

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Nature Climate Change thanks Qingquan Chu, Ken Giller and Bertrand Muller for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Mean annual yield benefit (1901–2020) of novel GAS varieties (long coleoptiles but without greater early vigour) sown deep at 120 mm compared to baseline wheat sown shallow at 45 mm.

Top: for a slow-developing wheat genotype sown on 10-Apr. Bottom: for a mid-developing wheat genotype sown on 10-May. Baseline: wheat with no new genetics and sown shallow opportunistically after germinating rainfall between 10-Apr and 30-Jun. Map outline © Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2021. (https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/61754).

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 2 Performance of novel GAS varieties sown deep at 120 mm compared to the baseline wheat sown shallow at 45 mm under past climate.

a-e, Simulated ranges (across 37 sites using the average at each site) of days after sowing (DAS) to anthesis (a), DAS to maturity (b), above-ground biomass (c), heat and frost stress index (d) and harvest index (HI, calculated from simulated yield and biomass) (e) for three scenarios under two different periods of past climate. In d, ‘Heat and frost index’ (varied between 0 and 1) with 1 representing no stress and no damage to grain yield. ‘1961–1990’: the standard reference period of past climate. ‘1991–2020’: period for warmer temperatures. ‘Scenario1’: a baseline wheat genotype with no new genetics sown shallow opportunistically after germinating rainfall between 10-Apr and 30-Jun. ‘Scenario2’: a slow-developing wheat genotype with the new genetics sown into deep stored water and germinating on 10-Apr. ‘Scenario3’: a mid-developing wheat genotype with the new genetics sown into deep stored water and germinating on 10-May. Boxplots were drawn with the average in the corresponding periods at 37 sites. The bottom, centre and top lines of the box represent the 25th, median and 75th percentiles. The open black circle indicates the average. Whiskers are extended to the most extreme data point that is no more than 1.5 interquartile range from the edge of the box (Tukey style). Black dots beyond the whiskers represent outliers.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 3 Performance of novel GAS varieties sown deep at 120 mm compared to the baseline wheat sown shallow at 45 mm under projected warming.

a-e, Simulated ranges (across 37 sites using the average at each site) of above-ground biomass (a), potential grain yield (without considering heat and frost reduction on grain yield) (b), days after sowing (DAS) to anthesis (c), DAS to maturity (d), and heat and frost stress index (e) for three scenarios under past climate (Base + 0 °C, 1981–2010) and future temperature rise (+2 and +4 °C temperature increases imposed on the 1981–2010 period). In d, ‘Heat and frost index’ (varied between 0 and 1) with 1 representing no stress and no damage to grain yield. Boxplots were drawn with the average in the corresponding periods at 37 sites. The bottom, centre and top lines of the box represent the 25th, median and 75th percentiles. The open black circle indicates the average. Whiskers are extended to the most extreme data point that is no more than 1.5 interquartile range from the edge of the box (Tukey style). Black dots beyond the whiskers represent outliers.

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Zhao, Z., Wang, E., Kirkegaard, J.A. et al. Novel wheat varieties facilitate deep sowing to beat the heat of changing climates. Nat. Clim. Chang. 12, 291–296 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01305-9

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