Conservation agriculture (CA) practices are becoming more important in Mediterranean rainfed areas due to their potential to minimize climatic risk, reduce soil erosion, and improve soil quality and water availability. Due to minimum soil disturbance and crop residue retention, the soil environment for crop growth and development can differ between CA and conventional tillage (CT) practice. However, breeding targets for improving yield performance in CA system remain poorly explored. The objective of this study was to assess the performance of elite genotypes of barley, chickpea, lentil, and wheat grown under CA, a promising alternative agricultural practice in the Mediterranean rainfed conditions. A three-year field study, with contrasting rainfall pattern, was conducted in the International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas’s research field in Morocco to evaluate the tillage × genotype interaction and its consequence for yield performance of barley, chickpea, lentil, and wheat. Thirteen elite genotypes for each crop were planted under both CA and CT systems. Wheat and chickpea produced significantly higher grain yield (+62% for wheat and +43% for chickpea) under CA than in CT, while lentil and barley performed equally under both systems. Significant effect of tillage × genotype was more frequent for chickpea and wheat than for barley and lentil. Increased yield under CA, mainly in dry year, was associated with higher harvest index (HI). For each crop species yield was mainly influenced by rainfall amount and distribution (75–88% yield variation), and tillage × genotype was of little importance. The overall results suggest that a specific breeding program for CA in lentil, chickpea, wheat, and barley may not be efficient. Few tillage × genotype interaction, especially in dry years, indicated that breeding target on increasing HI, tolerance to drought (high yield in dry years), and potential yield (high yield in wet year) can help to improve yield performance of chickpea, lentil, and wheat genotypes in CA system. Varieties with wider adaptability considering drought tolerance, higher yield with stability, and adoption of CA practices are important in the context of the Mediterranean rainfed environment. Integrating trade-off analysis between yield potential and stability in a rainfall gradient in both CT and CA in the national certification scheme of varieties may be more efficient than developing breeding programs for each type of tillage system.

中文翻译：

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地中海雨养条件下保护性农业中大麦、鹰嘴豆、小扁豆和小麦优良基因型的表现

保护性农业 (CA) 实践在地中海雨养地区变得越来越重要，因为它们具有最大限度地降低气候风险、减少水土流失以及改善土壤质量和水资源可用性的潜力。由于最小的土壤干扰和作物残留物保留，农作物生长和发育的土壤环境在 CA 和常规耕作 (CT) 实践之间可能不同。然而，在 CA 系统中提高产量性能的育种目标仍然很少探索。本研究的目的是评估在 CA 下种植的大麦、鹰嘴豆、小扁豆和小麦的优良基因型的表现，这是地中海雨养条件下一种有前途的替代农业实践。一项为期三年的实地研究，具有对比鲜明的降雨模式，在摩洛哥干旱地区国际农业研究中心的研究领域进行，以评估耕作 × 基因型相互作用及其对大麦、鹰嘴豆、小扁豆和小麦产量表现的影响。在 CA 和 CT 系统下种植了每种作物的 13 个优良基因型。小麦和鹰嘴豆在 CA 下的谷物产量显着高于 CT （小麦增加 62%，鹰嘴豆增加 43%），而小扁豆和大麦在两种系统下的表现相同。耕作 × 基因型对鹰嘴豆和小麦的显着影响比对大麦和小扁豆更频繁。CA 下的产量增加，主要是在旱年，与较高的收获指数 (HI) 相关。每种作物的产量主要受降雨量和分布的影响（75-88% 的产量变化），而耕作×基因型则无关紧要。总体结果表明，针对小扁豆、鹰嘴豆、小麦和大麦中的 CA 的特定育种计划可能效率不高。很少的耕作×基因型相互作用，特别是在干旱年份，表明提高 HI、耐旱（干旱年份高产）和潜在产量（潮湿年份高产）的育种目标有助于提高鹰嘴豆、小扁豆的产量表现, 和 CA 系统中的小麦基因型。在地中海雨养环境的背景下，具有更广泛适应性的品种（考虑到耐旱性、更高的产量和稳定性以及采用 CA 做法）非常重要。