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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2018, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (9): 2959-2969.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.201809.028

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Effects of elevated CO2 concentration on production and water use efficiency of spring wheat in semi-arid area.

ZHANG Kai1,2, WANG Run-yuan1*, LI Qiao-zhen3, WANG He-ling1, ZHAO Hong1, YANG Fu-lin1, ZHAO Fu-nian1, QI Yue1   

  1. 1Institute of Arid Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration/Gansu Province Key Laboratory of Arid Climatic Change and Disaster Reduction/China Meteorological Administration Key Open Laboratory of Arid Climatic Change and Disaster Reduction, Lanzhou 730020, China;
    2Dingxi Arid Meteorology and Ecological Environment Field Experimental Station, China Meteorological Administration, Dingxi 743000, Gansu, China;
    3Dingxi Bureau of Meteorology, Dingxi 743000, Gansu, China.
  • Received:2018-01-19 Online:2018-09-20 Published:2018-09-20
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the China Special Fund for Meteorological Research in the Public Interest (GYHY201106029, GYHY201506001-2), the Meteorological Research Project of Gansu Meteorological Bureau (GSMAMs2016-14), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41775107,41775105,41575149) and the Drought Meteorological Research Foundation (IAM201505).

Abstract: In the present study, the response of spring wheat production and water use efficiency (WUE) to the elevated CO2 concentrations was investigated based on the open-top chamber (OTC) experiment platform in Dingxi, a typical semi-arid area. Three different CO2 concentrations (390 μmol·mol-1, 480 μmol·mol-1 and 570 μmol·mol-1) were involved. The results showed that the air temperature above plant canopy increased and the soil temperature at depth of 10 cm decreased by elevated CO2. The increased CO2 concentration substantially enhanced the total and each component biomass. The aboveground dry mass under the increased CO2 concentrations (480 and 570 μmol·mol-1) was increased by 20.6% and 41.5%, respectively, and the total dry mass was increased by 19.3% and 39.6%, respectively. The biomass enhacement was mainly due to the increases of dry mass of stems and leaves, which was strongly related to the material production capacity during the middle growth stage. The root/shoot ratio under the increased CO2 concentrations (480 and 570 μmol·mol-1) was decreased by 7.3% and 11.8%, respectively, indicating that the elevated CO2 affected the dry matter accumulation of aboveground more than that of belowground. The yields of spring wheat under the increased CO2 concentrations (480 and 570 μmol·mol-1) were higher than that of the control by 8.9% and 19.9%, respectively, mainly due to the increase of grains per spike. The long-term effect of elevated CO2 concentration on the photosynthesis of spring wheat was not obvious. The photosynthetic rate significantly increased, the transpiration rate decreased and the evapotranspiration reduced with the increases of CO2 concentration. WUE at the leaf, population, and yield levels increased under elevated CO2 concentration, with the increase range of WUE being the largest at the population level and the lowest at the yield level.