Cotton yield responses to ozone as mediated by soil moisture and evapotranspiration

Journal Article · · J. Environ. Qual.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5825051

Temple, P J; Taylor, O C; Benoit, L F

A 2-yr field study was conducted to determine injury and yield responses of normally irrigated and water-stressed cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) to a gradient of ozone (O/sub 3/) concentrations. Cotton (cv. SJ-2), grown in open-top chambers in the Central Valley of California, was exposed to six O/sub 3/ treatments ranging from charcoal-filtered (CF) to ambient plus 0.10 ..mu..L L/sup -1/ O/sub 3/ (1981) or twice ambient O/sub 3/ concentrations (1982) for the growing seasons of 1981 and 1982. Half the plots were irrigated optimally and the other half were provided with 25% (1981) or 20% (1982) less irrigation water (water-stressed treatment). During the typically hot, dry growing season of 1981, cotton yield in normally irrigated treatments was reduced 20% by ambient levels of O/sub 3/ in nonfiltered chambers (NF) relative to LCF controls. Doubling ambient O/sub 3/ concentration reduced yield 45%. Water-stressed plants showed almost no response to O/sub 3/. In 1982, the weather was cooler and cloudier than normal and potential evapotranspiration during the growing season averaged 20% less and ambient O/sub 3/ concentrations averaged 39% lower than in 1981. Under these conditions, cotton yields at both levels of soil moisture treatments responded similarly to O/sub 3/. Yields in NF chambers were reduced 15% relative to CF chambers. Doubling ambient O/sub 3/ concentrations reduced yield 65%. The greater relative response of cotton to O/sub 3/ in 1982 may have resulted from the cooler, more humid growing conditions, which increased the susceptibility of cotton to O/sub 3/.

• Research Organization: Univ. of California, Riverside
• OSTI ID: 5825051
• Journal Information: J. Environ. Qual.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Environ. Qual.; (United States) Vol. 14:1; ISSN JEVQA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
560303* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology-- Plants-- (-1987)
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AIR POLLUTION
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
COTTON PLANTS
EVAPORATION
IRRIGATION
MOISTURE
OZONE
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PLANTS
POLLUTION
PRODUCTIVITY
SOILS
TOXICITY
TRANSPIRATION