Impact of moderate and extreme climate change scenarios on growth, morphological features, photosynthesis, and fruit production of hot pepper

Abstract

Horticultural crop production and changes in physiological aspects during the growing season may be affected by climate change factors (CC), which include increased temperature and the associated doubling or tripling of atmospheric CO2 concentrations. However, the potential effects are complex and many parameters might impact on the observed effects. To evaluate the effects of CC, the growth, yield, fruit characteristics, photosynthetic traits, and morphological characteristics of hot peppers were investigated. The hot peppers were grown under two CC scenarios, with the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) of 4.5 (Temp.; +3.4°C, CO2 conc.; 540 μmol/mol, Precipitation +17.3%) and RCP 8.5 (Temp.; +6.0°C and CO2 conc.; 940 μmol/mol, Precipitation +20.3%), respectively, using extreme weather simulators. This was compared with existing weather conditions occurring in Jeonju, South Korea in terms of air temperature, relative humidity, radiation, and precipitation. Overall, the plant height showed the highest under moderate CC conditions (RCP 4.5) among all the treatments tested. The number of leaves in the RCP 8.5 condition showed 7,739/plants, which was 2.2 times higher than that of the control. In addition, fruit shape was shortened and percentage dry matter was also the highest. The yield of hot pepper in the CC RCP 4.5 and 8.5 conditions were decreased by 21.5% and 89.2% when compared with that of the control, respectively. The days to harvest in the condition of CC scenarios were shortened from 5 to 13 compared with that of control, predominantly due to the increased air temperature. The results indicated that the severe RCP CC scenarios made reduction in the yields and negative affection on the fruit qualities. Overall, hot pepper was tolerant of mild CC scenarios of temperature × CO2 but was significantly affected by more extreme CC interacting parameter concentrations (or similar).

Fluid Dynamics Simulation and Temperature Gradient Validation along a Greenhouse Temperature Gradient

“…It decreased about 3-fold compared to that only exposed to elevated CO 2 . A drastic decrease was also observed in stomatal conductance, internal CO 2 , and photosynthesis rate [22]. A temperature increase from 28°C…”

“…It was followed by the Kimchi cabbage grown in zone A. The area with the lowest maximum photosynthetic rate was zone C. Previous research revealed that the maximum carboxylation rate, maximum rate of electron transport, and triose phosphate utilization rate of the higher temperature treatment plants were significantly lower than those of the control [7,8,22,26,29,31,32].…”

“…Yield and yield-related traits were unaffected by the climate change scenario[3]. Previous research revealed that an increase in air temperature, CO 2 concentration, and precipitation significantly disturbed plant growth and reduced the yield of horticultural crops[1,5,[7][8][9][22][23][24][25]…”

Solar Radiation Allocation and Spatial Distribution in Chinese Solar Greenhouses: Model Development and Application

“…For a given solar greenhouse, its annual spatial dynamics of solar radiation can be used to determine the reasonable crop varieties and planting seasons based on the lighting demands of different crops, thereby optimizing the solar greenhouse planting pattern and enhancing the production efficiency. Regarding the studied solar greenhouse located in the Hexi corridor, some recommendations can be made for its crop planting: the light-demanding crops requiring an illuminance in the range of 42,000-57,200 lux, such as tomatoes or watermelons [43,44], can be planted in spring and summer; the low light-tolerating crops that require an illuminance in the range of 25,000-40,000 lux, such as cucumbers or peppers can be planted in autumn and winters [45,46]; and the crops that require a moderate illuminance and a long sunshine exposure, such as zucchinis that need 40,000-50,000 lux of illuminance and 8-11 h of light per day [47], should be planted in spring and autumn. Additionally, when the solar greenhouse is utilized in summer, some supplementary lighting measures should be taken to improve the light environment in the low light region near the north wall.…”

Nutritional ecology: understanding the intersection of climate/environmental change, food systems and health.

“…Severe weather events such as droughts and floods can destroy food crops. Changing temperature, precipitation and increases in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), most notably CO 2 and methane (CH 4 ), can reduce yields (Donatelli et al, 2015;Kumar, 2016;Lee et al, 2017). For example, research projects that, by 2050, warming could reduce the world's crop production by more than 10%, even under two different scenariosone with pollution control measures that reduce the surface ozone and another more pessimistic scenario that sees an increase in ozone in most regions (Tai et al, 2014).…”