Work

An integrated, multivariate characterisation of water and photothermal regimes for faba bean in Australia

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Environmental characterisation provides a useful summary of major sources of variation in grain yield. Previous work has either focussed on water and photothermal regimes separately or ignored their temporal patterns, but they covary in time and space. There is a need for integrated, multivariate characterisations of the climatic patterns that modulate crop growth, development, and yield. We conducted two studies on faba bean, an important source of plant protein, in Australia, its largest exporter. For a database of yield from 299 variety trials, Study 1 tested the timing and strength of the association of maximum and minimum temperature, heat stress, frost, solar radiation, vapour pressure deficit and simulated water supply : demand with seed yield. Study 2 used cluster analysis of 30,096 simulated crops (1957-2022, three sowing dates, two varieties, 76 locations) to determine environment types for these variables, individually and combined. We tested the real world relevance of the environment types with the seed yield data of Study 1. Water supply:demand, maximum temperature and vapour pressure deficit had the strongest links to grain yield in both studies. We identified four multivariate environment types that ranged from syndromes of ‘wet, cool and low evaporative demand’ to ‘dry, hot and high evaporative demand’. From least to most stressful environment type, median seed yield reduced by 62%. Frequency of environment types varied with location, sowing date and variety, highlighting the potential value of earlier sowing and phenology for a large part of the country. From 1963-1992 compared with 1993-2022, the frequency of stressful environment types increased by 4 to 9 %, highlighting the need to adapt to a challenging future climate. Our findings can be used to inform breeding, management and research of faba bean in Australia and beyond, and our multivariate method can be applied to other crops and environments.

Source: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology

DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110426

Authors: James B Manson, Matthew D Denton, Lachlan Lake, Victor O Sadras

Institutions: The University of Adelaide, Flinders University, South Australian Research and Development Institute

Language: English

Topic: Climate change impacts on agriculture

Subfield: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

SDGs: Zero hunger, Climate action

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,590