Photosynthetic Response of Soybean and Cotton to Different Irrigation Regimes and Planting Geometries

Abstract

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) are the major row crops in the USA, and growers are tending toward the twin-row system and irrigation to increase productivity. In a 2-year study (2018 and 2019), we examined the gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters to better understand the regulatory and adaptive mechanisms of the photosynthetic components of cotton and soybean grown under varying levels of irrigations and planting geometries in a split-plot experiment. The main plots were three irrigation regimes: (i) all furrows irrigation (AFI), (ii) alternate or skipped furrow irrigation (SFI), and iii) no irrigation or rainfed (RF), and the subplots were two planting patterns, single-row (SR) and twin-row (TR). The light response curves at vegetative and reproductive phases revealed lower photosynthesis rates in the RF crops than in AFI and SFI. A higher decrease was noticed in RF soybean for light compensation point (LCP) and light saturation point (LSP) than that of RF cotton. The decrease in the maximum assimilation rate (Amax) was higher in soybean than cotton. A decrease of 12 and 17% in Amax was observed in RF soybean while the decrease is limited to 9 and 6% in RF cotton during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, respectively. Both stomatal conductance (gs) and transpiration (E) declined under RF. The moisture deficit stress resulted in enhanced operating quantum efficiency of PSII photochemistry (ΦPSII), which is probably due to increased photorespiration. The non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), a measure of thermal dissipation of absorbed light energy, and quantum efficiency of dissipation by down-regulation (ΦNPQ) increased significantly in both crops up to 50% under RF conditions. The photochemical quenching declined by 28% in soybean and 26% in cotton. It appears soybean preferentially uses non-photochemical energy dissipation while cotton uses elevated electron transport rate (ETR) under RF conditions for light energy utilization. No significant differences among SR and TR systems were observed for LCP, LSP, AQE, Amax, gs, E, ETR, and various chlorophyll fluorescence parameters. This study reveals preferential use of non-photochemical energy dissipation in soybean while cotton uses both photochemical and non-photochemical energy dissipation to protect PSI and PSII centers and ETR, although they fall under C3 species when exposed to moisture limited environments.