Browsing by Person "Schafleitner, Roland"

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Mungbean response to regulated deficit irrigation: a trade‐off between productivity and adaptability?
(2025) Pataczek, Lisa; Hakenberg, Tim; Hilger, Thomas; Nair, Ramakrishnan M.; Schafleitner, Roland; Asch, Folkard; Cadisch, Georg
Water scarcity, elevated temperatures, as well as pests and diseases have been demonstrated to have a detrimental effect on the yield potential of mungbean ( Vigna radiata ). The cultivation of improved mungbean genotypes with regulated deficit irrigation (RDI), a water‐saving irrigation strategy, has been identified as a promising approach to enhance yield stability of the crop and ensure food security. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify adaptation strategies and possible trade‐offs to drought of mungbean genotypes under deficit irrigation and the effect on yield by investigating in particular assimilate re‐allocation. Four genotypes (NM11, AVMU 1604, AVMU 1635, KPS2) were cultivated in a greenhouse under three treatments of RDI with depletion fractions as a percentage of total available soil water (TAW) of 0.45, 0.65, and 0.8, corresponding to a recommended irrigation schedule, moderate and severe water deficit, respectively. Samples were collected at the flowering and maturity stages, and the dry matter, dry matter partitioning, yield, harvest index, pod harvest index, water use efficiency, and carbon‐13 isotope discrimination to estimate transpiration efficiency were determined. The study found that productivity (i.e., grain yield) was not lowered as a trade‐off of adaptability to water deficit irrigation. The genotypes either did not respond to deficit irrigation (KPS2 and AVMU 1635) in terms of grain yield or exhibited increased remobilisation of assimilates, either from pod walls to seeds (NM11) or from vegetative plant parts to pods/seeds (AVMU 1604), thereby increasing yields by 38% and 52%, respectively, under water deficit. However, the genotype KPS2 demonstrated stable yields and the greatest harvest index/pod harvest index (36%/69%) across all RDI treatments, suggesting superior adaptability to fluctuating water availability and efficient resource allocation, providing a suitable choice for a range of environmental conditions.
Single-strain inoculation of Bacillus subtilis and Rhizobium phaseoli affects nitrogen acquisition of an improved mungbean cultivar
(2024) Pataczek, Lisa; Armas, Juan Carlos Barroso; Petsch, Theresa; Hilger, Thomas; Ahmad, Maqshoof; Schafleitner, Roland; Zahir, Zahir Ahmad; Cadisch, Georg
Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) increase plant root growth, potentially improving soil nitrogen (N) uptake, and productivity. Legumes, for instance mungbean, could also benefit from a rise in potential infection sites for nodulation, thereby increasing rates of biological N2 fixation (BNF). Consequently, the objectives of this study were (i) to assess whether PGPR had an effect on mungbean root biomass and if that was linked to N accumulation and productivity; (ii) to identify whether multi-strain inoculation showed greater efficacy in increasing N accumulation and overall productivity than single-strain inoculation; (iii) to test whether N acquisition was based on BNF rather than on soil N uptake. Field trials were conducted in two seasons at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad with mungbean cultivar NM11 and multi-strain inoculation consisting of Rhizobium phaseoli, Bacillus subtilis, and Pseudomonas fluorescens. The strains were tested additionally in the second season as single-strain inoculation. Multi-strain and inoculation with P. fluorescens alone had no effect on root biomass, total plant-N, BNF or soil N uptake. Inoculation with B. subtilis, however, resulted in significantly increased root dry matter (+ 211 kg ha− 1), total dry matter (+ 1.7 t ha− 1), and total plant-N (+ 36 kg ha− 1). Only inoculation with R. phaseoli enhanced BNF (+ 24%). Yield was not affected by any inoculation. The results suggested that total plant-N was based on soil N uptake rather than on BNF and demonstrated that only single strains affected total N accumulation, pointing to antagonistic mechanisms of the strains in a mixed inoculum.