Abstract
In the semi-arid tropics, sorghum and pearl millet or key source of income and calories. Sustainable intensification is therefore needed to ensure food security. These two cereals are largely grown in smallholder farming system and cultivated at low density, opening an avenue to increase yield through this agronomic management. Through field and lysimetric trials carried out in India and Senegal this work showed the possibility to increase significantly, the biomass and grain yield in both species, with the same irrigation regime and fertilization. We highlighted a lowering of the vapour pressure deficit (VPD) in the canopies of high density, resulting in an increase in water use efficiency of the crops. While both crops responded positively to increased density, there were also large specie differences in the genotypic variation of the response to density, namely a strong genotype x density interaction in sorghum for biomass and WUE, but none in pearl millet. The genotypic variation in the degree of WUE response found in sorghum and its link with biomass accumulation led to investigate putative differences in the transpiration response of the crops to the evaporative demand. We tested this hypothesis outdoors with canopy-grown sorghum plants in field and lysimeter experiments. The response of the evapotranspiration was measured against the evaporative demand. This response was linear and, with WUE, showed large genetic variation. WUE was surprisingly higher in genotypes with the highest transpiration response to the evaporative demand (Penman-Monteith). These genotypes were also those that allowed maximum light penetration into the canopy. This work opens the door to intensification, in the short term by increasing sowing density in drylands using sorghum and pearl millet cultivars that show a strong response to density, and in the medium term by selecting sorghum cultivars adapted to high density.