Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Wall, G.W
• Garcia, R.L
• Kimball, B.A
• Hunsaker, D.J
• Pinter, P.J. Jr
• Long, S.P
• Osborne, C.P
• Hendrix, D.L
• Wechsung, F
• Wechsung, G

Titel

Interactive effects of elevated carbon dioxide and drought on wheat

Ist Teil von

• Agronomy journal, 2006-03, Vol.98 (2), p.354-381

Ort / Verlag

Madison: American Society of Agronomy

Erscheinungsjahr

2006

Quelle

Wiley-Blackwell Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Atmospheric CO2 concentration (C(a)) continues to rise. An imperative exists, therefore, to elucidate the interactive effects of elevated C(a) and drought on plant water relations of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). A spring wheat (cv. Yecora Rojo) crop was exposed to ambient (Control: 370 micromol mol(-1)) and free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE: ambient + 180 micromol mol(-1)) under ample (Wet), and reduced (Dry), water supplies (100 and 50% replacement of evapotranspiration, respectively) over a 2-yr study. Our objective was to characterize and quantify the responses of 26 edaphic, gas exchange, water relations, carbohydrate pool dynamics, growth, and development parameters to rising C(a) and drought. Increasing C(a) minimized the deleterious effects of soil-water depletion by increasing drought avoidance (i.e., lower stomatal conductance and transpiration rate, and growth and development of a more robust root system) and drought tolerance (i.e., enhanced osmoregulation and adaptation of tissue) mechanisms, resulting in a 30% reduction in water stress-induced midafternoon depressions in net assimilation rate. An elevated C(a)-based increase in daily and seasonal carbon gain resulted in a positive feedback between source capacity (shoots) and sink demand (roots). Devoid of a concomitant rise in global temperature resulting from the rise in C(a), improved water relations for a herbaceous, cool-season, annual, C3 cereal monocot grass (i.e., wheat) are anticipated in a future high-CO2 world. These findings are applicable to other graminaceous species of a similar function-type as wheat common to temperate zone grassland prairies and savannas, especially under dryland conditions.