Abstract
Background and aims
Elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) has a positive impact on grain yield as a consequence of increased photosynthetic rate and efficient utilization of water, but may negatively affect nutritional quality of the grains. This study aimed at revealing the impact of elevated CO2 and terminal drought on yield performance and nutritional status of bread wheat as affected by Zn availability in soil.
Methods
Bread wheat (T. aestivum cv. Tahirova) was grown in soil culture (DTPA-Zn: 0.59 mg kg−1) with adequate (2 mg Zn kg−1 soil) and low Zn supply (no Zn added) in climate chambers, under ambient (400 μmol mol−1) and elevated atmospheric CO2 (700 μmol mol−1). Terminal drought stress was initiated at the onset of flowering stage by reducing the soil moisture to first 45 % and then gradually to 25 % of field capacity. Fully mature plants were harvested to determine yield, yield components, and grain Zn and protein concentration.
Results
Low Zn supply and terminal drought stress resulted in decreased grain and straw yield, whereas elevated CO2 enhanced grain and straw yield under Zn-limited and/or drought-stressed conditions. Increase in grain yield was a function of increased spike number. Elevated CO2 also induced Zn-efficiency (i.e. ability to yield highly at low Zn supply), but resulted in reduced grain Zn concentration and content. Grain protein concentrations were lower in elevated CO2, but higher in low Zn and drought conditions, due to “dilution” and “concentration” effects respectively. Biomass enhancement ratio (i.e. yield enhancement by elevated CO2) was not affected by Zn supply, but increased in drought-stressed plants.
Conclusions
Elevated CO2 can increase biomass production and grain yield even under low productivity conditions such as low water and/or Zn availability, but can reduce the nutritional value of the grain in terms of Zn and protein concentration. Adequate Zn supply is required to fill the dilution gap that is likely to arise with increasing atmospheric CO2 and changes in the distribution of precipitation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amthor JS (2001) Effects of atmospheric CO2 concentration on wheat yield: review of results from experiments using various approaches to control CO2 concentration. Field Crops Res 73:1–34
Broadley M, Brown P, Cakmak I, Rengel Z, Zhao F (2012) Function of nutrients: micronutrients. In: Marschner’s Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants, Third Edition, pp. 191–248. Marschner P, ed. Academic Press, London. ISBN 978–0–12-384905-2
Butterly CR, Armstrong R, Chen D, Tang C (2015) Carbon and nitrogen partitioning of wheat and field pea grown with two nitrogen levels under elevated CO2. Plant Soil 391:367–382
Cakmak I (2008) Enrichment of cereal grains with zinc: agronomic or genetic biofortification? Plant Soil 302:1–17
Collins M, Knutti R, Arblaster J, Dufresne J-L, Fichefet T, Friedlingstein P, Gao X, Gutowski WJ, Johns T, Krinner G, Shongwe M, Tebaldi C, Weaver AJ, Wehner M (2013) Long-term climate change: Projections, commitments and irreversibility. In: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis IPCC Working Group I Contribution to AR5 Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
de Oliveira ED, Bramley H, Siddique KHM, Henty S, Berger J, Palta JA (2013) Can elevated CO2 combined with high temperature ameliorate the effect of terminal drought in wheat? Funct Plant Biol 40:160–171
Fangmeier A, Gruters U, Hogy P, Vermehren B, Jager HJ (1997) Effects of elevated CO2, nitrogen supply and tropospheric ozone on spring wheat—II. Nutrients (N, P, K, S, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn. Environ Pollut 96:43–59
Genc Y, McDonald GK, Graham RD (2006) Contribution of different mechanisms to zinc efficiency in bread wheat during early vegetative stage. Plant Soil 281:353–367
Groisman PY, Knight RW, Easterling DR, Karl TR, Hegerl GC, Razuvaev VAN (2005) Trends in intense precipitation in the climate record. J Clim 18:1326–1350
Haase H, Rink L (2014) Multiple impacts of zinc on immune function. Metallomics 6:1175–1180
Hacisalihoglu G, Kochian LV (2003) How do some plants tolerate low levels of soil zinc? Mechanisms of zinc efficiency in crop plants. New Phytol 159:341–350
Hess SY, King JC (2009) Effects of maternal zinc supplementation on pregnancy and lactation outcomes. Food Nutr Bull 30:S60–S78
Hocking P, Meyer C (1991) Effects of CO2 enrichment and nitrogen stress on growth, and partitioning of dry matter and nitrogen in wheat and maize. Aust J Plant Physiol 18:339–356
Högy P, Fangmeier A (2008) Effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on grain quality of wheat. J Cereal Sci 48:580–591
Högy P, Wieser H, Kohler P, Schwadorf K, Breuer J, Erbs M, Weber S, Fangmeier A (2009a) Does elevated atmospheric CO2 allow for sufficient wheat grain quality in the future? J Appl Bot Food Qual 82:114–121
Högy P, Wieser H, Kohler P, Schwadorf K, Breuer J, Franzaring J, Muntifering R, Fangmeier A (2009b) Effects of elevated CO2 on grain yield and quality of wheat: results from a 3-year free-air CO2 enrichment experiment. Plant Biol 11:60–69
Hotz C, Brown KH (2004) Assessment of the risk of zinc deficiency in populations and options for its control. Food Nutr Bull 25:S94–S203
IPCC (2013) Climate Change 2013: The physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 1535 pp
Jin CW, ST D, Chen WW, Li GX, Zhang YS, Zheng SJ (2009) Elevated carbon dioxide improves plant iron nutrition through enhancing the iron-deficiency-induced responses under iron-limited conditions in tomato. Plant Physiol 150:272–280
Jin J, Tang C, Armstrong R, Sale P (2012) Phosphorus supply enhances the response of legumes to elevated CO2 (FACE) in a phosphorus-deficient vertisol. Plant Soil 358:91–104
Kakani VG, Vu JCV, Allen LH, Boote KJ (2011) Leaf photosynthesis and carbohydrates of CO2-enriched maize and grain sorghum exposed to a short period of soil water deficit during vegetative development. J Plant Physiol 168:2169–2176
Kim DW, Byun HR (2009) Future pattern of Asian drought under global warming scenario. Theor Appl Climatol 98:137–150
Loladze I (2002) Rising atmospheric CO2 and human nutrition : toward globally imbalanced plant stoichiometry ? Trends Ecol Evol 17:457–461
Mosse J (1990) Nitrogen to protein conversion factor for 10 cereals and 6 legumes or oilseeds - a reappraisal of its definition and determination - variation according to species and to seed protein-content. J Agric Food Chem 38:18–24
Myers SS, Zanobetti A, Kloog I, Huybers P, Leakey ADB, Bloom AJ, Carlisle E, Dietterich LH, Fitzgerald G, Hasegawa T, Holbrook NM, Nelson RL, Ottman MJ, Raboy V, Sakai H, Sartor KA, Schwartz J, Seneweera S, Tausz M, Usui Y (2014) Increasing CO2 threatens human nutrition. Nature 510:139–142
Pleijel H, Danielsson H (2009) Yield dilution of grain Zn in wheat grown in open-top chamber experiments with elevated CO2 and O3 exposure. J Cereal Sci 50:278–282
Pradhan GP, Prasad PVV, Fritz AK, Kirkham MB, Gill BS (2012) Effects of drought and high temperature stress on synthetic hexaploid wheat. Funct Plant Biol 39:190–198
Rengel Z, Graham RD (1996) Uptake of zinc from chelate-buffered nutrient solutions by wheat genotypes differing in zinc efficiency. J Exp Bot 47:217–226
Robredo A, Pérez-López U, Miranda-Apodaca J, Lacuesta M, Mena-Petite A, Munoz-Rueda A (2011) Elevated CO2 reduces the drought effect on nitrogen metabolism in barley plants during drought and subsequent recovery. Environ Exp Bot 71:399–408
Salama ZA, El-Fouly MM, Lazova G, Popova LP (2006) Carboxylating enzymes and carbonic anhydrase functions were suppressed by zinc deficiency in maize and chickpea plants. Acta Physiol Plant 28:445–451
Stein AJ (2009) Global impacts of human mineral malnutrition. Plant Soil 335:133–154
Sun Y, Solomon S, Dai A, Portmann RW (2007) How often will it rain? J Clim 20:4801–4818
Taub DR, Wang X (2008) Why are nitrogen concentrations in plant tissues lower under elevated CO2? A critical examination of the hypotheses. J Integr Plant Biol 50:1365–1374
Taub DR, Miller B, Allen H (2008) Effects of elevated CO2 on the protein concentration of food crops: a meta-analysis. Glob Change Biol 14:565–575
Turner NC (2004) Sustainable production of crops and pastures under drought in a Mediterranean environment. Ann Appl Biol 144:139–147
Wall GW, Garcia RL, Kimball BA, Hunsaker DJ, Pinter PJ, Long SP, Osborne CP, Hendrix DL, Wechsung F, Wechsung G, Leavitt SW, LaMorte RL, Idso SB (2006) Interactive effects of elevated carbon dioxide and drought on wheat. Agron J 98:354–381
Wang L, Feng Z, Schjoerring JK (2013) Effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on physiology and yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.): a meta-analytic test of current hypotheses. Agric Ecosyst Environ 178:57–63
Welch RM, Graham RD (2004) Breeding for micronutrients in staple food crops from a human nutrition perspective. J Exp Bot 55:353–364
Wieser H, Manderscheid R, Erbs M, Weigel H-J (2008) Effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations on the quantitative protein composition of wheat grain. J Agric Food Chem 56:6531–6535
Wu DX, Wang GX, Bai YF, Liao JX (2004) Effects of elevated CO2 concentration on growth, water use, yield and grain quality of wheat under two soil water levels. Agric Ecosyst Environ 104:493–507
Acknowledgments
This research forms part of PhD dissertation of Muhammad Asif. The authors acknowledge TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, project no. 113Z129) for financial support and thank to Prof. Martin Broadley of the University of Nottingham and Dr. Stuart James Lucas of Sabanci University for proof-reading of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Philip John White.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Asif, M., Yilmaz, O. & Ozturk, L. Elevated carbon dioxide ameliorates the effect of Zn deficiency and terminal drought on wheat grain yield but compromises nutritional quality. Plant Soil 411, 57–67 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-016-2996-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-016-2996-9