Publications by authors named "Raphael Pilloni"

Water scarcity is already set to be one of the main issues of the 21st century, because of competing needs between civil, industrial, and agricultural use. Agriculture is currently the largest user of water, but its share is bound to decrease as societies develop and clearly it needs to become more water efficient. Improving water use efficiency (WUE) at the plant level is important, but translating this at the farm/landscape level presents considerable challenges.

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Article Synopsis
  • Pearl millet is a crucial crop for smallholder farmers, and increasing planting density may improve productivity but could have trade-offs related to water use efficiency (WUE).
  • Experiments conducted in India and Senegal demonstrated that higher sowing densities significantly increased yields across all tested pearl millet genotypes, especially under high evaporative conditions.
  • The findings revealed that while increased density raised water usage, it also enhanced biomass production, resulting in improved WUE, confirming that environmental factors greatly influence crop responses to density changes.
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Improving crop water use efficiency, the amount of carbon assimilated as biomass per unit of water used by a plant, is of major importance as water for agriculture becomes scarcer. In rice, the genetic bases of transpiration efficiency, the derivation of water use efficiency at the whole-plant scale, and its putative component trait transpiration restriction under high evaporative demand remain unknown. These traits were measured in 2019 in a panel of 147 African rice (Oryza glaberrima) genotypes known to be potential sources of tolerance genes to biotic and abiotic stresses.

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