Whole plant chamber to examine sensitivity of cereal gas exchange to changes in evaporative demand

Background Improving plant water use efficiency (WUE) is a major target for improving crop yield resilience to adverse climate change. Identifying genetic variation in WUE usually relies on instantaneous measurements of photosynthesis (An) and transpiration (Tr), or integrative measurements of carbon isotope discrimination, at the leaf level. However, leaf gas exchange measurements alone do not adequately represent whole plant responses, especially if evaporative demand around the plant changes.