Ozone affects gas exchange, growth and reproductive development in Brassica campestris (Wisconsin Fast Plants)

Abstract

Summary• Exposure to ozone (O 3 ) may affect vegetative and reproductive development, although the consequences for yield depend on the effectiveness of the compensatory processes induced. This study examined the impact on reproductive development of exposing Brassica campestris (Wisconsin Fast Plants) to ozone during vegetative growth.• Plants were exposed to 70 ppb ozone for 2 d during late vegetative growth or 10 d spanning most of the vegetative phase. Effects on gas exchange, vegetative growth, reproductive development and seed yield were determined.• Impacts on gas exchange and foliar injury were related to pre-exposure stomatal conductance. Exposure for 2 d had no effect on growth or reproductive characteristics, whereas 10-d exposure reduced vegetative growth and reproductive site number on the terminal raceme. Mature seed number and weight per pod and per plant were unaffected because seed abortion was reduced.• The observation that mature seed yield per plant was unaffected by exposure during the vegetative phase, despite adverse effects on physiological, vegetative and reproductive processes, shows that indeterminate species such as B. campestris possess sufficient compensatory flexibility to avoid reductions in seed production.

Root foraging and yield components underlying limited effects of Partial Root-zone Drying on oilseed rape, a crop with an indeterminate growth habit

“…In oilseed rape, following winter dormancy, new leaves emerge and the rapeseed plant develops a single stalk from the crown, with most of the seed pods developing on the branches. Plants with indeterminate growth habit are known to be very flexible in their responses of growth and yield to water stress and different environmental conditions (De Costa et al 1997;Black et al 2000;Boutraa and Sanders 2001). This is consistent with the response of oilseed rape in our experiments, where the formation of longer branches and more sub-branches resulted in more pods when water stress was alleviated.…”

“…Many aspects of plant physiological and morphological characteristics and productivity of oilseed rape have been studied under different irrigation, fertilizer and field management (Mandal et al 2006;Rathke and Diepenbrock, 2006;Buttar et al 2006), including water stress (Jensen et al 1996;Mogensen et al 1997;Maisiri et al 2005). Oilseed rape is known to be very flexible in its response to different growth conditions Black et al 2007). However, comparatively little is known of the effects of APRD on rape root growth and changes in plant morphology contributing to differences in yield.…”

Plant Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in Ozone (O3) Polluted Atmospheres: The Ecological Effects

“…O 3 exposure also can reduce stomatal conductance (see Fig. 3 for the biochemical processes involved) and the amount of intercellular CO 2 (Black et al 2007). It has been forecasted that stomatal closure due to ozone exposure will decrease the gross primary production and carbon stocks in plants (Sitch et al 2007).…”

High speed and high precision optical interferometric technique to investigate instantaneous growth related changes of plant leaves

“…This in turn may lead to water loss, wilting and withering (Yue-ming et al 2004) and thus resulting in reducing possible growth fluctuations at scales of nm. Exposure to O 3 results in the reduction of physiological processes, namely metabolic and hydraulic processes (Black et al 2007;Kangasjärvi et al 2005;Rao and Davis 2001;Roelfsema and Hedrich 2005;Ruts et al 2012;Wilkinson and Davies 2010).…”