Leaf ionomic stability shapes drought adaptation in pearl millet

Leaf ionomic stability, not plasticity, is linked to maintained flowering time and biomass under early drought in 175 pearl millet inbred lines across two Senegal seasons.

• Why it matters: The drought-driven reorganization of the pearl millet foliar ionome and its genetic basis are unclear, limiting understanding of how mineral nutrition supports establishment and yield under early water deficit.
• What they did: The study profiled drought responses of 17 foliar elements in 175 diverse inbred lines over two seasons in Senegal, then tested whether element changes were reproducible and genetically associated with drought performance.
• The result: Only potassium showed a significant genotype-by-treatment interaction, and genome-wide association mapping on potassium plasticity identified qKP-6, which limits potassium depletion under stress without reducing constitutive potassium levels.

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