Fertilization is more effective in alleviating yield loss of waterlogged crops than exogenous growth regulators: a meta-analysis

Soil waterlogging ranks among the crucial abiotic stresses that have an impact on crop production and food security. However, the comprehensive assessment of the impact of management practices on crop yield under waterlogging is rarely reported. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the how management practices influence crop yield under waterlogging stress. The results showed that fertilization significantly increased the accumulation of aboveground and root biomass, whereas had no influence on 1000-grain weight. Under waterlogging treatment, fertilization significantly increased the yield of field and potted crops by 123.32% and 36.20%, respectively, and the increase in yield was significantly higher than that of exogenous application of growth regulators. When waterlogging event is carried out during the reproductive growth stage, the increase in crop yield induced by fertilization was higher than that of growth regulator treatment. The increase in wheat yield by regulator treatment is higher than that by fertilization, but the effect on cotton yield was not significant. Overall, this meta-analysis emphasized the potential of fertilization measures in mitigating the harmful effects of waterlogging, providing theoretical basis and technical support for agricultural production.