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This innovative approach could help maximize radiation use efficiency (RUE), a key determinant of crop yield, offering promising pathways to meet rising global food demands amid climate challenges.

Radiation use efficiency (RUE) measures how efficiently crops convert sunlight into biomass. Current RUE values for maize, the world’s most important grain crop, are estimated to be less than one-third of their theoretical maximum. This shortfall highlights significant untapped potential for improving crop yields, especially given the need to secure food supplies for a growing global population. The distribution of light and leaf nitrogen within the canopy plays a major role in determining RUE, but previous studies often made unrealistic assumptions about leaf area distribution. This new research, focused on maize—a C4 crop—explores how optimizing both the light and nitrogen distributions can unlock greater efficiency.

A published in  on 29 July 2024, has significant implications for breeding and crop management practices.

To test the hypothesis that RUE could be maximized by aligning leaf area and nitrogen within the canopy, researchers simulated a variety of virtual maize canopies. The simulation adjusted key parameters such as leaf inclination angle, vertical leaf area (LAI), and nitrogen distribution. A multilayer canopy photosynthesis model was then used to evaluate the performance of these canopies in terms of dry matter accumulation (ADM) and RUE. Results revealed that ADM and RUE initially increased, peaked, and then declined as the LIA increased. The maximum ADM values were recorded at different LAIs ranging from 1,978.51 to 2,056.40 g·m⁻² for LIAs between 63.48° and 71.08°. Similarly, the RUE values peaked at around 3.82 to 3.22 g·MJ⁻¹ for different LAIs. When assessing ADM and RUE with varying leaf nitrogen and area distributions, the simulations showed that ADM and RUE reached their highest values when leaf nitrogen allocation matched the vertical distribution of leaf area, emphasizing the importance of aligning nitrogen distribution with the canopy structure. Moreover, the optimal ideotype canopy—with an LAI of 5, LIA of 71.08°, and nitrogen peak at the seventh canopy layer—achieved the highest RUE of 4.157 g·MJ⁻¹. The study highlighted that matching the vertical distribution of light and nitrogen could optimize canopy RUE, particularly when more leaf area was positioned lower in the canopy, demonstrating the potential of optimizing canopy structure for higher crop productivity.

This study offers crucial insights into how optimizing the vertical distribution of leaf area and nitrogen within maize canopies can significantly improve RUE. These findings lay the groundwork for breeding more efficient maize varieties that make better use of sunlight and nitrogen, ultimately contributing to sustainable food production and improved resilience against climate challenges. As efforts continue to refine these techniques and bring them into real-world farming, this approach has the potential to make a meaningful impact on global food security.

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References

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Funding information

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2022YFD2001003), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32330075 and 32001420), the Science and Technology Innovation Special Construction Funded Program of Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (KJCX20220401), the Young Elite Scientist Sponsorship Program by BAST (no. BYESS2023204), and the earmarked fund for CARS-02 and CARS-54.

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Science Partner Journal  is an online-only Open Access journal published in affiliation with the State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics & Germplasm Enhancement, Nanjing Agricultural University (NAU) and distributed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Like all partners participating in the Science Partner Journal program, Plant Phenomics is editorially independent from the Science family of journals. Editorial decisions and scientific activities pursued by the journal's Editorial Board are made independently, based on scientific merit and adhering to the highest standards for accurate and ethical promotion of science. These decisions and activities are in no way influenced by the financial support of NAU, NAU administration, or any other institutions and sponsors. The Editorial Board is solely responsible for all content published in the journal. To learn more about the Science Partner Journal program, visit the SPJ program homepage.