Phenotyping of guar accessions from the VIR collection under irrigation and artificial drought conditions in Volgograd Province

Background. Guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.) is a newly introduced crop for southern regions of Russia. Guar gum, a component of guar seeds, is used in a number of sectors of the national economy, being strategically important for the gas and oil industry. Targeted introduction of guar requires better understanding of the crop’s adaptive potential, and more specifically, its responses to droughts typical for most of Russia’s southern areas.

Material and methods. Guar accessions from the VIR collection were phenotyped at Volgograd Experiment Station of VIR in 2023–2024. The studied set was selected to represent the crop’s gene pool to the fullest extent possible. The same accessions were studied under drip irrigation and artificial drought conditions. The study was performed according to the guidelines developed at VIR. Statistica 13.3 software was used for statistical data processing.

Results. Seed productivity was accepted as the main criterion to assess the plant’s adaptability to drought. On its basis, the studied set of accessions was differentiated into three groups: drought-tolerant, sensitive to drought, and neutral to water supply. The analyzed indicators manifested different degrees of variability under the conditions of irrigation and drought. The status revealed for the majority of accessions in the context of their responses to drought remained unchanged in both years of the study.

Conclusion. The drip irrigation scheme used in 2023 (5 L per plant per week) turned out to be excessive for most accessions, while the one half as lower in 2024 (2.5 L per plant per week) appeared favorable for the accessions of all three groups. With optimal irrigation, a majority of guar accessions exhibited a tendency toward increased seed productivity, regardless of the group.

1. Ahmed M.F.M., Mac D.M., Bashir A.A.G. Effect of water stress at different periods on seed yield and water use efficiency of guar under Shambat conditions. Agricultural Sciences. 2011;2(3):262-266. DOI: 10.4236/as.2011.23034

2. Ali Z., Ashraf M., Al-Qurainy F., Khan S., Akram N.A. Field screening of guar [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.] accessions for enhanced forage production on hot drylands. Pakistan Journal of Botany. 2015;47(4): 1429-1437.

3. Alshameri A., Al-Qurainy F., Khan S., Nadeem M., Gaafar A.R., Tarroum M. et al. Appraisal of guar [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.] accessions for forage purpose under the typical Saudi Arabian environmental conditions encompassing high temperature, salinity and drought. Pakistan Journal of Botany. 2017;49(4):1405-1413.

4. Ashraf M.Y., Akhtar K., Sarwar G., Ashraf M. Evaluation of arid and semi-arid ecotypes of guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.) for salinity (NaCl) tolerance. Journal of Arid Environments. 2002;52(4):473-482. DOI: 10.1006/jare.2002.1017

5. Avola G., Riggi E., Trostle C., Sortino O., Gresta F. Deficit irrigation on guar genotypes (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.): effects on seed yield and water use efficiency. Agronomy. 2020;10(6):789 DOI: 10.3390/ agronomy10060789

6. Baath G.S., Kakani V.G., Gowda P.H., Rocateli A.C., Northup B.K., Singh H. et al. Guar responses to temperature: Estimation of cardinal temperatures and photosynthetic parameters. Industrial Crops and Products. 2020;145:111940. DOI: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2019.111940

7. Dzyubenko E.A., Safronova V.I., Vishnyakova M.A. Objectives of guar breeding in the Russian Federation in connection with the prospects of domestic guar gum production (review). Agricultural Biology. 2023;58(1):43-59. DOI: 10.15389/agrobiology.2023.1.43eng

8. Dzyubenko N.I., Dzyubenko E.A., Potokina E.K., Bulyntsev S.V. Clusterbeans Cyamopsis tetragonolоba (L.) Taub. – properties, use, plant genetic resources and expected introduction in Russia (review). Agricultural Biology. 2017;52(6):1116-1128. [in Russian] DOI: 10.15389/agrobiology.2017.6.1116rus

9. Gresta F., Mercati F., Santonoceto C., Abenavoli M.R., Ceravolo G., Araniti F. et al. Morpho-agronomic and AFLP characterization to explore guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.) genotypes for the Mediterranean environment. Industrial Crops and Products. 2016;86:23-30. DOI: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2016.03.038

10. Gudko V., Usatov A., Minkina T., Duplii N., Azarin K., Tatarinova T.V. et al. Dependence of the pea grain yield on climatic factors under semi-arid conditions. Agronomy. 2024;14(1):133. DOI: 10.3390/agronomy14010133

11. Kruchina-Bogdanov I.V., Miroshnichenko E.V., Shaukharov R.A., Kantemirova E.N., Golovina M.A., Abdullaev K.M. et al. Impact of growing conditions on the gum properties of different genotypes of guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.). Vavilov Journal of Genetics and Breeding. 2019;23(7):941-948. DOI: 10.18699/VJ19.570

12. Meftahizadeh H., Ghorbanpour M., Asareh M.H. Changes in phenological attributes; yield and phytochemical compositions of guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.) landaraces under various irrigation regimes and planting dates. Scientia Horticulturae. 2019;256:108577. DOI: 10.1016/j.scienta.2019.108577

13. Pandey K., Kumar R.S., Prasad P., Pande V., Trived P.K., Shirke P.A. Coordinated regulation of photosynthesis and sugar metabolism in guar increases tolerance to drought. Environmental and Experimental Botany. 2022;194:104701. DOI: 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2021.104701

14. Rakovskaya N.V., Zabegaeva O.N., Dzyubenko E.A. Seed quality evaluation in the collection of Cyamopsis tetragonoloba after long-term storage under uncontrolled conditions. Proceedings on Applied Botany, Genetics and Breeding. 2019;180(4):48-58. [in Russian] DOI: 10.30901/2227-8834-2019-4-48-58

15. Stafford R.E.; McMichael B.L. Effect of water stress on yield components in guar. Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science. 1991;166(1):63-68. DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-037X.1991.tb00884.x

16. Startsev V.I., Livanskaya G.A., Kulikov M.A. Prospects of cultivating guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.) in Russia. Bulletin of the Russian State Agrarian Correspondence University. 2017;24(29):11-15. [in Russian]

17. State Register for Selection Achievements Admitted for Usage. Volume 1. Plant varieties: [website]. [in Russian]. URL: https://gossortrf.ru/registry/ [дата обращения: 14.05.2024].

18. Vishnyakova M.A., Frolova N., Frolov A. Drought stress response in guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub): physiological and molecular genetic aspects. Plants. 2023;12(23):3955. DOI: 10.3390/plants12233955

19. Vishnyakova M.A., Shaukharov R.A., Gurina A.K., Kocherina N.V., Dzyubenko E.A., Cherevatskaya M.A. et al. Guar in the Russian Federation: an attempt to conceptualize the experience acquired. In: Genepool and Plant Breeding (GPB 2024): Proceedings of the 7th International conference dedicated to the 95th anniversary of the birth of Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences P.L. Goncharov (April 10–12, 2024, Novosibirsk, Russia). Novosibirsk: Institute of Cytology and Genetics, SB RAS; 2024. p.88-92. [in Russian] . URL: https://conf.icgbio.ru/gpb2024/wp-content/uploads/sites/122/2024/04/GPB2024_09-04-2024-k2compress.pdf [дата обращения: 19.06.2024].

20. Weather Spark. The Weather Year Round Anywhere on Earth: [website]. Available from: https://weatherspark.com/ [accessed Aug. 07, 2024].

21. Zubair M., Akhtar L.H., Minhas R., Qamar M.J., Bukhari S.J., Sadiq A. et al. Expediency of water and soil nutrients in irrigated and extreme drought conditions. African Journal of Agricultural Research. 2017;12(27):2310-2318. DOI: 10.5897/AJAR2017.12132