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Background and Aims The development of Arundo donax as a biomass crop for use on drought-prone marginal lands in areas with warm to hot climates is constrained by the lack of variation within this species. We investigated the effect of morphological and physiological variation on growth and tolerance to drought under field conditions in three ecotypes of A. donax collected from habitats representing a climate gradient: a pre-desert in Morocco, a semi-arid Mediterranean climate in southern Italy and a warm sub-humid region of central Italy. Methods The three A. donax ecotypes were grown under irrigated and rain-fed conditions in a common garden field trial in a region with a semi-arid Mediterranean climate. Physiological and morphological characteristics, and carbohydrate metabolism of the ecotypes were recorded to establish which traits were associated with yield and/or drought tolerance. Key Results Variation was observed between the A. donax ecotypes. The ecotype from the most arid habitat produced the highest biomass yield. Stem height and the retention of photosynthetic capacity later in the year were key traits associated with differences in biomass yield. The downregulation of photosynthetic capacity was not associated with changes in foliar concentrations of sugars or starch. Rain-fed plants maintained photosynthesis and growth later in the year compared with irrigated plants that began to senescence earlier, thus minimizing the difference in yield. Effective stomatal control prevented excessive water loss, and the emission of isoprene stabilized photosynthetic membranes under drought and heat stress in A. donax plants grown under rain-fed conditions without supplementary irrigation. Conclusions Arundo donax is well adapted to cultivation in drought-prone areas with warm to hot climates. None of the A. donax ecotypes exhibited all of the desired traits consistent with an 'ideotype'. Breeding or genetic (identification of quantitative trait loci) improvement of A. donax should select ecotypes on the basis of stem morphology and the retention of photosynthetic capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing air temperature due to changing climate is projected to decrease the length of the growing season, hasten vegetative development and maturation, and ultimately affect yield of many C3 crops. Previous multilocation trials highlighted strong relationships between thermal trends in the interval "beginning of flowering‐end of grain filling" and grain yield, and protein content in durum wheat (Triticum turgidum subsp. durum (Desf.) Husn.). With the aim to confirm these relationships, nine durum wheat genotypes, including old (Capeiti 8, Senatore Cappelli and Trinakria) and modern (Amedeo, Arcangelo, Mongibello, Simeto, and Svevo) varieties and a Sicilian landrace (Russello) were grown at three different sites representing a climate gradient in Sicily, Italy. Moreover, the effect of post‐anthesis heat stress on these durum wheats was further investigated in two contrasting environments: open‐field (control—C) and greenhouse heat stress (HS). HS shortened the interval "beginning‐end of flowering" of 1.5 days across genotypes, and the "end of flowering‐beginning of grain filling" and maturation of 4.9 days, with a range of 1 day in Arcangelo to 11 days in Cappelli. Advances in main phenophases significantly decreased kernel weight (KW) and grain yield (GY), whereas grain protein content (PC) increased. As expected, a negative relationship was observed between GY and PC, while positive relationships were found for GY and grain‐filling duration (GFD), and GY and KW. Genotypes responded differently to heat stress, as evidenced by the net photosynthesis, transpiration rate, instantaneous water use efficiency and dry matter accumulation in kernels. Genotypes were ranked according to the heat susceptibility index (HSI): Amedeo, Arcangelo, Capeiti 8, Svevo and Trinakria resulted heat‐tolerant. These varieties were characterized by an early trigger of dry matter accumulation in kernels under HS (Amedeo, Arcangelo and Trinakria), or showed similar length of the GFD (Capeiti 8) between environments. The multilocation trial confirmed a negative relationship between maximum temperatures and grain yield, and a positive relationship between minimum temperatures and protein content during grain–filling periods. Research focusing on agronomic strategies, phenology and breeding for tolerance to heat stress is of strategic importance to cope with the detrimental effect of global warming in semi‐arid climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deficit irrigation is a valid alternative to conventional irrigation to save water while maintaining high productivity in tomatoes. However, crop sensitivity to water stress due to deficit irrigation may change with the growth stage. To assess the physiological and agronomic responses of processing tomatoes to deficit irrigation applied at critical stages, a field experiment was conducted in a coastal site of Southern Italy, where seven irrigation treatments differing for daily evapotranspiration (ETc) restored (100%—full or 50%—deficit) and the time of watering (long-season or limited to the vegetative period or to flowering) were applied to processing tomatoes cv. Hypeel F1. Plants continuously irrigated and those irrigated only at flowering maintained higher rates of leaf transpiration (E) and stomatal conductance (gs) over those irrigated only during the vegetative period. Fruit yield was the greatest under long-season full irrigation (51 t ha−1). Severe soil water deficit during flowering, more than during the vegetative period, adversely affected crop productivity. Irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) was maximized under long-season deficit irrigation (>19 kg m−3) or deficit irrigation during flowering (>16 kg m−3). E and gs measured at early or mid-flowering may be adopted as valuable indicators to predict crop productivity; however, they may be altered under high vapor pressure deficit (VPD). Predawn water potential, being little affected by VPD, is a more reliable parameter than leaf transpiration and stomatal conductance under these climatic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]