Using plant diversity to reduce vulnerability and increase drought resilience of permanent and sown productive grasslands

Lüscher Andreas, Barkaoui Karim, Finn John A., Suter Daniel, Suter Matthias, Volaire Florence. 2022. Using plant diversity to reduce vulnerability and increase drought resilience of permanent and sown productive grasslands. Grass and Forage Science, 77 (4), n.spéc. Topics from the General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation held in 2022 : 235-246. European Grassland Federation General Meeting (EGF 2022). 29, Caen, France, 26 Juin 2022/30 Juin 2022.

Résumé : Climate change associated with a greater variability of inter- and intra-annual droughts and the occurrence of extreme events act in combination to challenge semi-natural and sown productive grasslands in Europe. Successful plant strategies under drought strongly depend on stress intensity. Drought resistance to maintain leaf growth under moderate stress trades off with drought survival after growth cessation under life-threatening drought. Substantial intra-specific variability exists in key forage grasses originating from the Mediterranean to the cool-temperate climates and represents a great potential for adaptation of future ecotypes and cultivars to a larger range of drought intensities. Plant species diversity offers an opportunity to stabilize forage production in two ways. First, growth reduction under stress is significantly smaller for diverse compared to simple plant communities because the former offers the opportunity to include drought-resistant (or drought-surviving) species. Second, positive interactions among species increase ecosystem functioning of more diverse plant communities under moderate drought, allowing them to compensate for drought-induced yield reductions. Currently, available cultivars of perennial forage species adapted to dry climate are still rare and only a few forage species are used in productive systems. Thus, both intra- and inter-specific plant diversity should be better valued to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience of productive grasslands.

Mots-clés Agrovoc : herbage permanent, herbage artificiel, résistance à la sécheresse, mécanisme de défense, réponse de la plante, biodiversité

Mots-clés libres : Drought tolerance, Drought survival, Plant strategies, Functional diversity, Forage

Classification Agris : F40 - Écologie végétale
H50 - Troubles divers des plantes

Champ stratégique Cirad : CTS 2 (2019-) - Transitions agroécologiques

Auteurs et affiliations

• Lüscher Andreas, Agroscope (CHE)
• Barkaoui Karim, CIRAD-PERSYST-UMR ABSys (FRA) ORCID: 0000-0002-5787-3748
• Finn John A., Teagasc (IRL)
• Suter Daniel, Agroscope (CHE)
• Suter Matthias, Agroscope (CHE) - auteur correspondant
• Volaire Florence, CEFE (FRA)

Source : Cirad-Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/601862/)

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