Halving near-surface ozone dose could increase wheat yields by 20%
new knowledge
Science and Technology Daily (Reporter Zhang Ye) At present, the concentration of ozone in the near-surface layer continues to rise, and it has become an important air pollutant.
So, what harm does ozone pollution do to us?
The reporter learned from Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology on January 26 that a recent study by the school showed that near-surface ozone pollution has had a negative impact on the production of wheat, rice and corn in East Asia.
The achievement paper has been published online in "Nature Food", a sub-journal of "Nature".
High concentrations of ozone enter crop leaves through stomata to cause oxidative stress, which will negatively affect food growth and threaten global food security.
As East Asia is a hotspot of global ozone pollution, it is crucial to assess the impact of ozone pollution on the yields of major food crops in the region.
The research was led by Nanjing University of Information Technology and jointly completed with 9 domestic and foreign institutions.
The study integrated the data of multiple field control experiments in China, India and Japan to construct the response relationship between ozone dose and yield loss, and used the ozone protection agent (EDU) test to verify.
The study found that wheat in East Asia is the most sensitive to ozone pollution, followed by hybrid rice, conventional rice and corn.
The study analyzed the ozone concentration monitoring data of 3072 monitoring stations in China (2017-2019), Japan (2015-2017) and South Korea (2016-2018) in the past three years, as well as comprehensive international food prices, crop growth period, ozone concentration and dosage. - Relative yield-response relationship, finding that ozone pollution causes annual crop yield losses in East Asia to be approximately US$63 billion.
Among them, the yields of wheat, hybrid rice, conventional rice and corn in China decreased by 32.6%, 29.3%, 12.9% and 8.6% respectively.
The study pointed out that if the ozone dose was halved through aggressive emission reduction measures, China's wheat, rice and corn crop yields could be increased by 21%, 10% and 4%, respectively, compared with current yields.
The study recommends implementing strong emission reduction measures, strengthening the breeding of ozone-resistant crop varieties, and exploring agronomic measures to improve crop ozone resistance in East Asia to improve crop yields.
At the same time, the established response model of ozone dose and yield loss provides guidance for predicting the quantitative results that climate change may have on crop yields and proposing mitigation strategies for losses, and provides a theoretical basis for ensuring food security in my country.