Transpiration efficiency of Amaranth (Amaranthus sp.) in response to drought stress

ABSTRACTDrought is a major abiotic stress responsible for severe crop losses worldwide. Development of new crop varieties with increased drought tolerance is one way to increase crop productivity. The aim of this study was to characterise the diversity of nine accessions belonging to Amaranthus tricolor and A. cruentus, in response to drought stress using a dry-down protocol to characterise the transpiration efficiency (TE). Plants were subjected to either a gradual dry down or well-watered conditions. Results showed that TE was significantly higher (P < 0.01) in water-deficient (WD) plants compared to water-sufficient (WS) plants, 2.40 g kg−1–7.13 g kg−1 and 2.19 g kg−1–4.84 g kg−1, respectively. There was no significant difference in the fraction of transpirable soil water (FTSW) threshold decline between the amaranth genotypes. TE was highly correlated with yield under both WS (r = 0.89, P < 0.001) and WD conditions (r = 0.662, P < 0.001), and negatively correlated with root-to-shoot ratio under both W...