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Differential root responses in two cultivars of winter wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) to elevated ozone concentration under fully open‐air field conditions
Author(s) -
Kou T.J.,
Yu W.W.,
Lam S. K.,
Chen D.L.,
Hou Y.P.,
Li Z.Y.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of agronomy and crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.095
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-037X
pISSN - 0931-2250
DOI - 10.1111/jac.12257
Subject(s) - cultivar , agronomy , biomass (ecology) , biology , point of delivery , respiration , poaceae , yield (engineering) , chemistry , horticulture , botany , materials science , metallurgy
Abstract The effect of elevated tropospheric ozone concentration [O 3 ] on root processes in wheat systems of different O 3 sensitivity is not well understood. Two wheat cultivars (cv. Y15 and YN 19) with contrasting O 3 tolerance were grown in a fully open‐air O 3 enrichment platform for one season. We found that elevated O 3 ( EO 3 ) (50% above the ambient O 3 ) significantly decreased the total biomass at all key growth stages and the yield of the O 3 ‐sensitive cultivar YN 19 but did not affect those of the O 3 ‐tolerant cultivar Y15. EO 3 significantly decreased the root biomass of two wheat cultivars at the jointing and grain‐filling stages. EO 3 significantly decreased the root length, length density, surface area and volume of the two cultivars at the jointing stage but increased those of YN 19 at the grain‐filling stage. EO 3 significantly increased the root activities (specific root respiration rates) of Y15 and YN 19 at the jointing, heading and grain‐filling stages. EO 3 significantly decreased the contribution of fresh root respiration to soil respiration ( CRS ) of YN 19 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 EO 3 on root morphology and activity varied among wheat cultivars, and suggest that we can breed O 3 ‐tolerant cultivars to maintain crop yield under higher [O 3 ] scenarios.