Ethylenediurea (EDU): A research tool for assessment and verification of the effects of ground level ozone on plants under natural conditions

Assessing the effects of ambient ozone in China on snap bean genotypes by using ethylenediurea (EDU)

“…Feng et al, 2008). However, contrasting results have reported: while in a meta-analysis of EDU effects on plants it was concluded that EDU did not modify the g s of plants (Feng et al, 2010a), individual experiments show both increasing and decreasing g s in EDU-treated plants and even transitory increases but final decreases (Manning et al, 2011). Protection of photosynthesis by EDU in sensitive genotypes is also a conclusion of this experiment as A sat , Vc max , J max , and fluorescence parameters (F 0 v =F 0 m , ETR and qP) in the light increased.…”

“…The parallel reduction of fluorescence parameters F 0 v =F 0 m , ETR and qP under steady-state illumination in E-sensitive genotypes, may reflect a down-regulation process for adjusting the production of reductive power and chemical energy to a lower demand by the CalvineBenson cycle (Calatayud et al, 2007). Other studies have reported that even without significant effects on photosynthesis, EDU can protect plants from ozone growth reductions (Manning et al, 2011). Notably, plants selected for the present experiment are among the most sensitive crops (Feng and Kobayashi, 2009), and they have been exposed to very high ambient ozone concentration, therefore deleterious effects of ozone on E-plants are more evident than in other studies.…”

“…The results of Feng et al (2010a) and Manning et al (2011) showed that 450 ppm EDU effectively protect different plants species from ozone. Therefore, half of the plants were treated with 450 ppm EDU (Eþ from now on) and half with water (E-from now on) in current study.…”

“…However, despite this recent evidence that impacts on vegetation are widespread, information on how these ozone levels affect plant physiology and ultimately biomass and yield production in this area are very scarce. The antiozonant ethylenediurea (EDU) has been used in several studies to assess the effects of ozone on plants under ambient conditions (Manning et al, 2011), avoiding the problem of enclosure techniques such as OTCs that modify microclimatic conditions in which plants grow. In the present study, we use EDU to protect different genotypes of bean plants from ozone, therefore making it possible to assess the effects of this pollutant.…”

“…The application of EDU as a 'control' to ambient ozone is useful to determine ambient ozone effects in fieldgrown plants, particularly in many remote and developing regions where electricity and funding are limited (Blum et al, 1998;Hassan et al, 1995;Manning et al, 2011;Tiwari and Agrawal, 2010). EDU is regarded to act in the apoplast as a potential chemical scavenger (Gatta et al, 1997), thus protecting plants from ozone injury by increasing the antioxidant capacity of the leaf (Pandey et al, 2014;Singh et al, 2009;Tiwari and Agrawal, 2010).…”