Leaf prickle hairs and longitudinal grooves help wheat plants capture air moisture as a water-smart strategy for a changing climate

The leaf features like trichome density, gradient grooves, and leaf wettability determine the efficiency to capture air moisture for self-irrigation in the wheat plant. Plants in water-scarce environments evolved to capture air moisture for their water needs either directly or indirectly. Structural features like cones, hairs, and grooves assist water capture. The morphology of crops such as wheat can promote self-irrigation under drought. To examine this further, 34 wheat genotypes were characterized for leaf traits in near optimal conditions in the field using a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. An association was found between morphological and physiological traits and yield using simple correlation plots. A core set of nine genotypes was subsequently evaluated for moisture harvesting ability and leaf wettability. Results showed that variation among genotypes exists for fog harvesting ability attributed to structural leaf features. Physiological traits, especially photosynthesis and water use efficiency, were positively associated with yield, negatively correlated with soil moisture at booting, and positively correlated with soil moisture at anthesis. The genotypes with deep to medium leaf grooves and dense hairs on the edges and adaxial surfaces (genotypes 7 and 18) captured the most moisture. This was a function of higher water drop rolling efficiency resulting from lower contact angle hysteresis. These results can be exploited to develop more heat and drought-tolerant crops.