Elevated atmospheric CO₂ and the future of crop plants

Abstract

Atmospheric CO2 levels on Earth have risen steeply over the last 60 years and will continue to do so in future. CO2 traps heat from earth's surface, which causes an increase in temperature and leads to other climatic changes. Crop plants are currently challenged by climate change. In general, elevated CO2 increases photosynthetic rates, plant growth and the ability of plants to counteract stress. However, the effect of eCO2 on respiration is not apparent. Plants growing at eCO2 probably do not have sufficient respiratory ATP to drive cellular processes like nutrient uptake and transport, which impairs their nutritional quality. Here, we review how eCO2 modulates growth and nutritional value of crop plants, emphasizing the contribution of photosynthesis and respiration. We highlight the mechanisms that modulate acclimation and adaptive responses of plants to eCO2 and also discuss the ecological consequences. Finally, we project sorghum as a model for an eCO2 ready crop.

Mapping the Global-Scale Maize Drought Risk Under Climate Change Based on the GEPIC-Vulnerability-Risk Model

“…For example, CO 2 is not only a major cause for climate warming but also an important environmental factor in determining the vulnerability. Elevated CO 2 fertilizes the crop and alleviates the negative impact of drought and vulnerability (Ottman et al 2001;Wang et al 2017;Bhargava and Mitra 2021). Therefore, the risk may be overestimated in this study because the elevated CO 2 was not considered.…”

Role of Tuber Developmental Processes in Response of Potato to High Temperature and Elevated CO2

“…Evaluations of simulation models for potato agronomic responses and global climate change indicate that model variation is modest for predicted CO 2 but is particularly uncertain for temperature [ 5 ]. This suggests that more knowledge about the nature of heat susceptibility in potato would be valuable in guiding future efforts to improve the crop genetically and to optimize management [ 12 , 21 , 53 ]. In regard to whole plant DMAR, the current studies indicate that the tuber initiation stage may be somewhat more sensitive to stress than tuber bulking.…”

Revisión del impacto de concentraciones elevadas de CO2 sobre frutales en la era del cambio climático

“…Since e-CO2 generates higher photosynthesis rates, a more significant amount of assimilates is available to be channeled towards biosynthetic pathways of different types (Treutter, 2010), resulting in higher levels of secondary metabolites due to the greater availability of precursor molecules (Becker & Kläring, 2016). Furthermore, in e-CO2 environments, because of the greater number of growing sink organs, there is an increase in the demand for photoassimilates, which stimulate the net assimilation rates of carbon in the form of sucrose and starch (Bhargava & Mitra, 2021). e-CO2 (750 ± 30 μmol/mol) can increase photosynthesis rates without affecting stomatal conductance and dark respiration.…”

“…This effect is generated by biomass production (figure 1) derived from photosynthesis, defined by Larcher (2003) as 85 % to 92 % of dry matter. Due to the more significant accumulation of carbohydrates by plants, e-CO2 will also increase its availability for symbiotic organisms such as mycorrhizal fungi and associated rhizospheric bacteria (Bhargava & Mitra, 2021).…”