TY - JOUR
T1 - Short-term drought is a stronger driver of plant morphology and nutritional composition than warming in two common pasture species
AU - Catunda, Karen L. M.
AU - Churchill, Amber C.
AU - Zhang, Haiyang
AU - Power, Sally A.
AU - Moore, Ben D.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Under warmer and drier future conditions, global livestock and dairy production are threatened by impacts on the productivity and nutritional quality of pastures. However, morphological and nutritional adjustments within plants in response to warming and drought vary among species and less is known how these relate to production and forage quality. To investigate this, we grew two common pasture species, tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea: grass) and lucerne (Medicago sativa: legume), in a climate-controlled facility, under different temperatures (ambient and elevated) and watering regimes (well-watered and droughted). We found that drought had a strong negative impact on biomass production, morphology and nutritional quality while warming only significantly affected both species when response metrics were considered in concert, although to a lesser degree than the drought. Furthermore, interactions between warming and drought were only seen for lucerne, with a reduction in biomass and an increase in dead material and dry matter. In tall fescue, drought had bigger impacts on nutritional composition than morphological traits, while in lucerne, drought affected all morphological traits and most of the nutritional parameters. These findings suggest that in future climate scenarios, drought may be a stronger driver of changes in the morphology and nutritional composition of pasture grasses and legumes, compared to modest levels of warming.
AB - Under warmer and drier future conditions, global livestock and dairy production are threatened by impacts on the productivity and nutritional quality of pastures. However, morphological and nutritional adjustments within plants in response to warming and drought vary among species and less is known how these relate to production and forage quality. To investigate this, we grew two common pasture species, tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea: grass) and lucerne (Medicago sativa: legume), in a climate-controlled facility, under different temperatures (ambient and elevated) and watering regimes (well-watered and droughted). We found that drought had a strong negative impact on biomass production, morphology and nutritional quality while warming only significantly affected both species when response metrics were considered in concert, although to a lesser degree than the drought. Furthermore, interactions between warming and drought were only seen for lucerne, with a reduction in biomass and an increase in dead material and dry matter. In tall fescue, drought had bigger impacts on nutritional composition than morphological traits, while in lucerne, drought affected all morphological traits and most of the nutritional parameters. These findings suggest that in future climate scenarios, drought may be a stronger driver of changes in the morphology and nutritional composition of pasture grasses and legumes, compared to modest levels of warming.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:60588
U2 - 10.1111/jac.12531
DO - 10.1111/jac.12531
M3 - Article
SN - 0931-2250
VL - 208
SP - 841
EP - 852
JO - Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science
JF - Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science
IS - 6
ER -