Improving agricultural water use efficiency by nutrient management in crop plants

Abstract Improvement of agricultural water use efficiency is of major concern with drought problems being one of the most important factors limiting grain production worldwide. Effective management of water for crop production in water-scarce areas requires efficient approaches. Increasing crop water use efficiency and drought tolerance by genetic improvement and physiological regulation may be a means to achieve efficient and effective use of water. A limited water supply inhibits the photosynthesis of plants, causes changes of chlorophyll contents and components and damage to photosynthetic apparatus. It also inhibits photochemical activities and decreases the activities of enzymes in plants. Water stress is one of the important factors inhibiting the growth and photosynthetic abilities of plants through disturbing the balance between the production of reactive oxygen species and the antioxidant defence, causing accumulation of reactive oxygen species which induce oxidative stress to proteins, membrane lipids and other cellular components. A number of approaches are being used to enhance water use efficiency and to minimize the detrimental effect of water stress in crop plants. Proper plant nutrition is a good strategy to enhance water use efficiency and productivity in crop plants. Plant nutrients play a very important role in enhancing water use efficiency under limited water supply. In this paper we discuss the possible effective techniques to improve water use efficiency and some macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium), micronutrients (zinc, boron, iron, manganese, molybdenum and chloride), and silicon (a beneficial nutrient) in detail to show how these nutrients play their role in enhancing water use efficiency in crop plant.