Differential root responses in two cultivars of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to elevated ozone concentration under fully open‐air field conditions

Abstract

The effect of elevated tropospheric ozone concentration [O3] on root processes in wheat systems of different O3 sensitivity is not well understood. Two wheat cultivars (cv. Y15 and YN19) with contrasting O3 tolerance were grown in a fully open‐air O3 enrichment platform for one season. We found that elevated O3 (EO3) (50% above the ambient O3) significantly decreased the total biomass at all key growth stages and the yield of the O3‐sensitive cultivar YN19 but did not affect those of the O3‐tolerant cultivar Y15. EO3 significantly decreased the root biomass of two wheat cultivars at the jointing and grain‐filling stages. EO3 significantly decreased the root length, length density, surface area and volume of the two cultivars at the jointing stage but increased those of YN19 at the grain‐filling stage. EO3 significantly increased the root activities (specific root respiration rates) of Y15 and YN19 at the jointing, heading and grain‐filling stages. EO3 significantly decreased the contribution of fresh root respiration to soil respiration (CRS) of YN19 at the jointing stage but increased it at the heading stage; however, it did not change the CRS of Y15 at any growth stages. This study indicates that the effects of EO3 on root morphology and activity varied among wheat cultivars, and suggest that we can breed O3‐tolerant cultivars to maintain crop yield under higher [O3] scenarios.

INCREASED CARBON LOSS VIA ROOT RESPIRATION AND IMPAIRED ROOT MORPHOLOGY UNDER FREE-AIR OZONE ENRICHMENT ADVERSELY AFFECT RICE (ORYZA SATIVA L.) PRODUCTION

“…The reductions in root length, length density, surface area, volume and average diameter of rice plants demonstrated the inhibitory effect of EO 3 on root growth under higher [O 3 ] exposure. Similar responses in wheat to EO 3 were observed in our previous study (Kou et al , 2017b) and other researches have also found that EO 3 decreased root volume (Zhao et al ., 2012) and root length of soybean (Wang et al ., 2004) and alfalfa (Renaud et al , 1997). The impaired root morphology weakened the ability of roots to absorb nutrients and moisture in soil, reducing rice growth and production.…”

“…We found that rice yield was reduced by EO 3 , which was attributed to the adverse effect of EO 3 on biomass during the vegetative growth and root morphological index at the flowering stage (Tables 1–). This was in agreement with previous findings (Kou et al ., 2017a; 2017b; Wang et al , 2007) as photosynthesis (Pang et al ., 2009) and C assimilation decrease under EO 3 (Cooley and Manning, 1987; Fiscus et al ., 2005). The decrease in RRS under EO 3 in our study (Table 1) further indicates that dry matter accumulation and belowground growth (root biomass, root morphology) would be lower under projected [O 3 ] increase.…”

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