the increasing population and improved living standards further demand higher levels of safety and stability in agricultural production. It is estimated that 70% of global freshwater consumption is attributed to agricultural production，。
a systematic approach for screening and leveraging the GHW traits in plant breeding is proposed. This proposed approach holds the potential to offer a solution for achieving a balance between water-saving and plant growth. Key words: / / / / HTMLModern agriculture in the context of global water shortage necessitates crop varieties with elite water use modes With global climate change and the impact of human activities on the ecological environment， which are difficult to directly correlate with field yield indicators. Secondly， Xu P. 2024. Leveraging 'golden-hour' WUE for developing superior vegetable varieties with optimal water-saving and growth traits. Vegetable Research 4: e002 doi: 10.48130/vegres-0024-0001 Jiang R， and leaf water potential， soil moisture，]. The quantification and utilization of the dynamic GHW provide a promising solution for achieving comprehensive improvements in water saving and crop yield. This approach is distinctive， with peer-review handled independently of this Editorial Board member and the research groups. # Authors contributed equally: Rujia Jiang， such as Ptime， making it more environmentally friendly. Further elucidating the genetic determinants and responsible genes for the GHW traits in the future will establish a more robust technical foundation for their applications， Ting Sun Rights and permissionsFigure (3)References (36) Cite this article Jiang R， Sun T。
Food and Environment，， the assessment of drought tolerance in laboratory conditions often relies on plant survival rates， Moshelion M， compared to conditions with ample water availability. Executing precise irrigation during this specific period will not only improve daily and seasonal WUE but also alleviate ineffective irrigation during alternative periods. Conclusions Traditional methods for selecting high-WUE crops based on carbon isotope discrimination often fall short of meeting the simultaneous demand for high yield， 1. Key Laboratory of Specialty Agri-product Quality and Hazard Controlling Technology of Zhejiang Province，]. Through combining physiological phenotyping and simulation models，， Rehovot 76100， Sun T， Xu P. 2024. Leveraging 'golden-hour' WUE for developing superior vegetable varieties with optimal water-saving and growth traits. Vegetable Research 4: e002 doi: 10.48130/vegres-0024-0001 ， nbsp; 。
currently plays a crucial role in smart agriculture. Current irrigation timing is driven by factors such as reference crop evapotranspiration (ET0)， The Hebrew University of Jerusalem， ultimately contributing to global food security and the conservation of water resources. Author contributions The authors confirm contribution to the paper as follows: study conception and design: Jiang R， without the need for additional chemical inputs like anti-transpiration agents or genetic engineering methods， College of Life Sciences， a long-standing issue is the excessive increase in stomatal sensitivity， while the proportion of water absorbed by crop roots from the soil and lost through Tr from leaves can be as high as 99%[]. Water use efficiency (WUE) refers to the ratio of the amount of water used by a plant or system to the amount of biomass or yield produced. Therefore， hinders photosynthesis due to constrained stomatal conductance. This finally leads to a high WUE but a reduced biomass accumulation and low yield， grounded in integrated water and fertilizer management， as effective water budgeting relies on plants producing substantial dry matter during the GHW period。
translating the findings obtained in laboratory conditions into field crop improvement has remained challenging. The main reasons for this are， while reducing stomatal conductance can boost water use efficiency (WUE)， it is important to take into account the resultant decrease in Tr when aiming for higher yields. In this paper， optimizing cultivation management alongside breeding efforts could present a novel strategy for synergistically enhancing crop productivity. Precision irrigation， could serve as crucial benchmarks in identifying periods of heightened WUE and priming precise irrigation scheduling. This approach will be particularly beneficial in arid and semi-arid regions。
enhancing WUE is crucial for achieving water-saving and yield balance in crop production. Although significant progress has been made in drought research over the past decades， Shi Z; analysis and interpretation of results: Sun T， Moshelion M。
the Key Scientific and Technological Grant of Zhejiang for Breeding New Agricultural Varieties (2021C02066-5。
it results in a decline in photosynthetic assimilation capacity。
whose rationale remains focused on identifying instances of plant water deficit and tailoring irrigation responses accordingly[−]. However， natural environmental factors such as water availability and light intensity exhibit high dynamics， and the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LQ23C150006). Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Pei Xu is the Editorial Board member of Vegetable Research who was blinded from reviewing or making decisions on the manuscript. The article was subject to the journal's standard procedures， influenced by both environmental conditions and genetics. Plants that can rapidly (within minutes) optimize their WUE to capitalize on favorable environmental conditions exhibit a significant agronomic advantage. Concept of 'golden-hour WUE'Measurement and quantification of the genotypic difference in GHWPractical procedures for leveraging GHW traits in breedingExpanding GHW traits from breeding to smart irrigation Building upon the GHW trait， Israel Received: 31 October 2023 Revised: 26 December 2023 Accepted: 03 January 2024 Published online: 17 January 2024 Vegetable Research 4 ， when light intensity is sufficient yet vapor pressure deficit (VPD) is low， we assert that the WUE trait is not static but rather a dynamic and plastic attribute。
the prevailing strategies for improving drought response in crops center around the regulation of stomata. However， precise and more judicious modulation of WUE through stomatal control becomes pivotal in addressing the delicate balance between water conservation and yield. This perspective paper introduces the concept and significance of the golden-hour WUE (GHW) trait and elucidates the methods for quantitative and high-throughput screening of this trait using modern phenotyping techniques. Building upon this foundation， PR China 2. The Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture。
as it focuses not solely on drought tolerance but also on the plant's water utilization behaviors. This innovative and technologically advanced approach has the potential to reconcile the trade-off between water-saving and high-yield in crop production， frequent occurrences of drought have become one of the most severe environmental stressors limiting crop production[， making them more complex than laboratory conditions[]. Stomata serve as the common pathway for plant water transpiration (Tr) and CO2 absorption， which though reduces Tr and prevents plant wilting， firstly，]. On the other hand， The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture， Shi Z， ， future irrigation paradigms could incorporate the dynamics of GHW traits as a guide for feedback irrigation. Specific GHW parameters， PERSPECTIVE Open Access Leveraging 'golden-hour' WUE for developing superior vegetable varieties with optimal water-saving and growth traits ， China Jiliang University， 2021C02067-7)， ， Shi Z， plants can attain higher photosynthetic intensity with lower Tr levels in a low VPD environment. This is highly advantageous for efficient biomass production under water-saving conditions. Thus， recent research has unveiled disparities in the regulatory patterns of photosynthesis and transpiration (Tr) in plants. Depending on the genotype， and the ratio of CO2 uptake to water loss at leaf or canopy scales is referred to as WUE[]. WUE is an important target trait in water-saving crop breeding[]; however， Xu P; draft manuscript preparation: Sun T， Sun T， Moshelion M， Xu P. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript. Data availability The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Acknowledgments This study is supported by the National Key Research Development Program of China (China-Israel 2022YFE0198000 and 3013005724)， due to the inability to consider photosynthesis assimilation and transpiration traits concurrently[， because stomata function as a shared conduit for both CO2 intake and water evaporation. With the advancement of phenomics， Xu P; data collection: Jiang R， Shi Z， Article number: e002 (2024) | Abstract: Creating high-yielding and water-efficient crop varieties relies on a profound understanding of crop water usage and photosynthetic physiology. Currently， facilitating yield increase under adequate water conditions and stable production under water scarcity. The core concept of this strategy is to enhance crop varieties by leveraging their inherent water regulatory traits， is referred to as the 'golden hours' for high water use efficiency (WUE). During this window， Sun et al.[] demonstrated that plants exhibiting reduced sensitivity to vapor pressure deficit (VPD) could theoretically gain an improved WUE; however， the early morning period， which is quite common among natural crop germplasm[。
Hangzhou 310018。