Impact of CO2 Concentration and Enrichment on Crops

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2017)

Special Issue Editor

Thünen-Institute of Biodiversity, Bundesallee, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, 5,0, D38116 Braunschweig, Germany

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the face of climate change there is considerable uncertainty in the development of future global crop yields with model estimations ranging from negative (>10%) to strong positive (> 15%) effects in ca. 2050, as compared to the present situation. The largest uncertainty in these estimations results from the rapid increase of the global atmospheric CO2 concentration. Elevated concentrations of atmospheric CO2 (e[CO2]) are known to directly impact on agricultural crops as e[CO2] stimulates photosynthesis of C3 plants and reduces leaf transpiration of C3 and C4 plants. These physiological effects at the leaf level may translate into enhanced crop growth and yield (CO2 fertilization) and may affect agroecosystem properties. Moreover, alongside the enhanced growth, plants under e[CO2] frequently show changes in their chemical composi­tion, an effect that has been discussed to be a threat for future food and feed quality. However, to which extent these effects will be realized at the farm level remains highly uncertain.

In last few decades, a plethora of studies have addressed e[CO2] effects on plant growth, including important crop species. The majority of these studies focused on e[CO2] effects alone, and were carried out under more-or-less artificial growth conditions. With respect to growth and yield highly variable results were obtained in these studies, which may be attributed to the various factors (e.g., light and temperature conditions, crop genotype, etc.) that differed between the studies. Despite this information and with respect to the agronomic implications of e[CO2] and overall climate change effects, we still lack a better understanding of many open questions. For example, why crop photosynthesis stimulation is mostly not matched by the respective yield enhancement, if and to what extent crop nutrient supply (particularly N and P fertilization) determine the size of the e[CO2] effect, in which way future elevated temperatures and heat stress, respectively, interact with e[CO2] effects, if drought stress mitigation by e[CO2] is a unique phenomenon with all C3 crops, if genotype differences in the e[CO2] response can be exploited by plant breeding to optimize the CO2 fertilization, if and to what extent crop pathogens interact with e[CO2], what mechanisms are responsible for the e[CO2] induced changes of the plant’s tissue element stoichiometry and, last not least, to what extent we can compare e[CO2] effects from growth chamber with field studies like free air CO2 enrichment (FACE).

This Special Issue invites papers that focus on “CO2 Enrichment Effects on Crop Plants” (arable crops, grassland, horticultural crops). We welcome new research results, review articles, and opinion papers that cover related topics in the fields of plant physiology, crop yield and yield quality, agroecosystem effects, including soil and plant health responses. Particularly we are interested in research addressing interactions of e[CO2] with overall climate change effects and with crop management factors, as well as crop genetics and plant breeding and crop modeling.

Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Weigel
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Climate change
  • CO2 fertilization
  • crop yields
  • food quality
  • interactive effects
  • agroecosystems

Published Papers (2 papers)

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2855 KiB  
Article
CO2-Induced Changes in Wheat Grain Composition: Meta-Analysis and Response Functions
by Malin C. Broberg, Petra Högy and Håkan Pleijel
Agronomy 2017, 7(2), 32; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy7020032 - 25 Apr 2017
Cited by 84 | Viewed by 11324
Abstract
Elevated carbon dioxide (eCO2) stimulates wheat grain yield, but simultaneously reduces protein/nitrogen (N) concentration. Also, other essential nutrients are subject to change. This study is a synthesis of wheat experiments with eCO2, estimating the effects on N, minerals (B, [...] Read more.
Elevated carbon dioxide (eCO2) stimulates wheat grain yield, but simultaneously reduces protein/nitrogen (N) concentration. Also, other essential nutrients are subject to change. This study is a synthesis of wheat experiments with eCO2, estimating the effects on N, minerals (B, Ca, Cd, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, S, Zn), and starch. The analysis was performed by (i) deriving response functions to assess the gradual change in element concentration with increasing CO2 concentration, (ii) meta-analysis to test the average magnitude and significance of observed effects, and (iii) relating CO2 effects on minerals to effects on N and grain yield. Responses ranged from zero to strong negative effects of eCO2 on mineral concentration, with the largest reductions for the nutritionally important elements of N, Fe, S, Zn, and Mg. Together with the positive but small and non-significant effect on starch concentration, the large variation in effects suggests that CO2-induced responses cannot be explained only by a simple dilution model. To explain the observed pattern, uptake and transport mechanisms may have to be considered, along with the link of different elements to N uptake. Our study shows that eCO2 has a significant effect on wheat grain stoichiometry, with implications for human nutrition in a world of rising CO2. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of CO2 Concentration and Enrichment on Crops)
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470 KiB  
Article
Using FACE Systems to Screen Wheat Cultivars for Yield Increases at Elevated CO2
by James Bunce
Agronomy 2017, 7(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy7010020 - 24 Feb 2017
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 5105
Abstract
Because of continuing increases in atmospheric CO2, identifying cultivars of crops with larger yield increases at elevated CO2 may provide an avenue to increase crop yield potential in future climates. Free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) systems have most often been [...] Read more.
Because of continuing increases in atmospheric CO2, identifying cultivars of crops with larger yield increases at elevated CO2 may provide an avenue to increase crop yield potential in future climates. Free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) systems have most often been used with multiple replications of each CO2 treatment in order to increase confidence in the effect of elevated CO2. For screening of cultivars for yield increases at elevated CO2, less precision about the CO2 effect, but more precision about cultivar ranking within CO2 treatments is appropriate. As a small-scale test of this approach, three plots, each of four cultivars of wheat, were grown in single FACE and control plots over two years, and the cultivar rankings of yield at elevated and ambient CO2 were compared. Each replicate plot was the size used in traditional cultivar comparisons. An additional test using four smaller replicate plots per cultivar within one FACE and one ambient plot was used to compare nine cultivars in another year. In all cases, elevated CO2 altered the ranking of cultivars for yield. This approach may provide a more efficient way to utilize FACE systems for the screening of CO2 responsiveness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of CO2 Concentration and Enrichment on Crops)
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