Improving Intrinsic Water‐Use Efficiency and Crop Yield

Greater yield per unit rainfall is one of the most important challenges in dryland agriculture. Improving intrinsic water-use efficiency (W(T)), the ratio of CO(2) assimilation rate to transpiration rate at the stomata, may be one means of achieving this goal. Carbon isotope discrimination (Delta(13)C) is recognized as a reliable surrogate for W(T) and there have now been numerous studies which have examined the relationship between crop yield...