CO2 Responses of Winter Wheat, Barley and Oat Cultivars under Optimum and Limited Irrigation

Abstract

Field crop production must adapt to the challenges generated by the negative consequences of climate change. Yield loss caused by abiotic stresses could be counterbalanced by increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration, but C3 plant species and varieties have significantly different reactions to CO2. To examine the responses of wheat, barley and oat varieties to CO2 enrichment in combination with simulated drought, a model experiment was conducted under controlled environmental conditions. The plants were grown in climate-controlled greenhouse chambers under ambient and enriched (700 ppm and 1000 ppm) CO2 concentrations. Water shortage was induced by discontinuing the irrigation at BBCH stages 21 and 55. Positive CO2 responses were determined in barley, but the CO2-sink ability was low in oats. Reactions of winter wheat to enriched CO2 concentration varied greatly in terms of the yield parameters (spike number and grain yield). The water uptake of all wheat cultivars decreased significantly; however at the same time, water-use efficiency improved under 1000 ppm CO2. Mv Ikva was not susceptible to CO2 fertilization, while no consequent CO2 reactions were observed for Mv Nádor and Mv Nemere. Positive CO2 responses were determined in Mv Kolompos.

Mitigating the Negative Effect of Drought Stress in Oat (Avena sativa L.) with Silicon and Sulphur Foliar Fertilization

“…Bocharnikova et al [ 39 ] also reported similar results with their research, which sought to determine the effect of silicon fertilizer on the drought resistance of barley. Findings by Farkas et al [ 40 ] based on silicon application research in the winter oat variety ‘Mv Hópehely’, also supports our findings regarding the positive effect of Si fertilization on water use efficiency.…”

A global meta-analysis of woody plant responses to elevated CO2: implications on biomass, growth, leaf N content, photosynthesis and water relations

“…A decline in leaf N implies that herbivores will depend largely on N-deficient foliage (Coley et al 2002) and this may need a change of feeding habits (Farkas et al 2021) and increased foliage intake to compensate for N deficiency (Jayawardena et al 2021). A decline in leaf N content implied that eCO 2 may reduce decomposition rate of the leaf litter as well as N cycling (Norby et al 1999).…”

“…It is predicted that atCO 2 may rise as high as 936 μmol mol −1 by the year 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are not mitigated (Hu et al 2018). The increase in atCO 2 has serious impacts on plant physiology, productivity, growth, water relations (Bhargava and Mitra 2021;Zhang et al 2021) and foliage chemistry (Du et al 2020;Farkas et al 2021). AtCO 2 , through CO 2 fertilization, directly increases growth, canopy density and biomass by enhancing photosynthesis (Baig et al 2015) and indirectly by reducing transpiration via partial closure of stomata (Gonsamo et al 2021).…”

“…Increased net photosynthetic rate together with reduced transpiration as a result of reduced stomatal conductance (g s ) increase water use efficiency (WUE), thereby counter-acting moisture stress in droughtstricken ecosystems (Zhang et al 2018;Garhum et al 2021;Farkas et al 2021;Mathias and Thomas 2021). At a landscape scale, increased WUE could increase soil moisture, in turn extending the length of the growing season (Li et al 2019).…”

Plant Breeding Supporting the Sustainable Field Crop Production

“…It was confirmed that the elevation of the CO 2 could be positive to plant development and production and the CO 2 enrichment could counterbalance the negative impact of drought [9]. The responses of various cereal varieties to elevated CO 2 concentration were studied under optimum and limited water availability [10]. The CO 2 treatments were combined with the simulation of drought in two phenophases of cereals and the productivity of the plants as well as the water use efficiency was determined.…”