Grain yield and total water used in maize, sorghum, and pearl millet grown in the field in lysimeters under different water regimes. (A, C) Experiment 1 with relatively high vapor pressure deficit (VPD; Fig. 1). Plants were either well-watered (WW) or subjected to water stress (WS) by stopping watering at 60 d after sowing (DAS) in maize, 57 DAS in sorghum, and 44 DAS in pearl millet, corresponding to tassel emergence in maize, and flowering in sorghum and pearl millet. (B, D) Experiment 2 with relatively low VPD. In addition to the WW treatment, three different WS regimes were applied: WS1, stress imposed on all species at the time of tassel emergence in maize; WS2, stress imposed on all species at the time of flowering in sorghum; WS3, stress imposed on all species at the time of flowering in pearl millet. Data are means (±SE) of 10 genotypes for maize and pearl millet, and 16 genotypes of sorghum, with five replicate plants being sampled to determine the mean for each genotype. Bars indicating the LSD at P<0.01 within each water treatment are shown.