Developing stress intensity index and prioritizing hotspot locations for screening wheat genotypes under climate change scenario

• Published in: Ecological indicators Vol. 118; p. 106714
• Main Authors: Mamrutha, H.M., Khobra, Rinki, Sendhil, R., Munjal, Renu, Sai Prasad, S.V., Biradar, Suma, Mavi, G.S., Dhar, Tapamay, Bahadur, Raj, Bhagwan, J.H., Prakash, Surya, Singh, Hoshiyar, Shukla, R.S., Srivastava, Meera, Singh, Chandrakant, Gosavi, A.B., Salunke, V.D., Chandra Dhyani, Vipin, Singh, G.P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-11-2020
• Subjects: Climate change; Drought; Heat; Mann-Kendall; Weather variables; Wheat; Climate change; Heat; Mann-Kendall; Drought; Wheat; Weather variables
• ISSN: 1470-160X; 1872-7034
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106714

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•Stress intensity indices were developed first time using principal component analysis (PCA).•Minimum relative humidity had the highest weightage for both heat (2.45) & drought (1.96) stress.•Variation in minimum relative humidity contributed significantly to the stress intensity.•Indore, Dharwad & Pune are identified as hotspots for screening wheat genotypes under heat and drought stress condition.•Across trial locations, drought & heat stress intensity indices exhibited same co-movement.
Projected changes in the frequency and severity of climatic events are expected to negatively affect wheat yields. India being the sub-continent reflects all global climatic conditions is greatly prone to micro climatic changes. In this scenario, there is an exigency to relook into our abiotic hotspot centres for their consistency to use them for wheat germplasm screening. The present study is a first of its kind to analyze the status of drought and heat stress hotspots for wheat screening in India. We developed a unique analytical approach considering 11 years daily weather variables (indicators) like maximum and minimum temperature, maximum and minimum humidity and rainfall to re-prioritize the experimental locations according to their stress intensity index. The principal component analysis based indexing revealed that some of the locations like Dharwad, Indore, Pune and Parbhani are maintaining high stress intensity and a few centres like Kanpur, Faizabad and Malda are having lower stress intensity. Interestingly, Ranchi, a centre which was not recognized much as a hotspot earlier, but over years started to experience high drought stress in the recent decade. The study also indicates that the changes in minimum humidity have contributed significantly for the stress intensity. The outcome of the study will help researchers in prioritizing the experimental sites for screening wheat under heat and drought stress, in limited resource scenario and also to understand the micro environmental changes.