Response of tomato growth and transpiration under adequate elevated CO2 concentrations coupled with irrigation regimes
摘要
Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations ([CO2]) and water scarcity are the most significant crop-affecting environmental indicators influencing agriculture. The ability of adequately elevated [CO2] (e[CO2]a) to mitigate the adverse effects of water scarcity conditions on crop growth and yield is still uncertain. This experiment was conducted during two growing seasons, the autumn‒winter (AW 2021) and spring‒summer 2022 (SS 2022) growing seasons, to analyze the plant parametric responses (plant growth, transpiration rate, water consumption and biomass) under e[CO2]a coupled with multiple irrigation regimes. Controlled environment chambers (CECs) coupled with weight balances were designed to analyze the crop responses under various irrigation regimes. The irrigation regimes used in this study were I1, which supplied 40–50% of the soil water holding capacity (WHC), I2, which supplied 60–70% of the WHC, I3, which supplied 80–90% of the WHC, and I4, which supplied 100% of the WHC. Using these irrigation regimes, 6 treatment regimens were employed in this study, including I1e[CO2]a, I2e[CO2]a, I3e[CO2]a, I4e[CO2]a, and I4 coupled ambient [CO2] (I4a[CO2]). I4a[CO2] was considered the control treatment (CK). Compared with those receiving the CK treatment, the optimum plant height, stem diameter and LAI under I3e[CO2]a were increased by 25.59%, 16.30% and 8.87%, respectively, with 25.37% water savings in AW 2021 and 0.22%, 14.81% and 58.38%, respectively, with 35.57% water savings in SS 2022. The maximum total dry weight (DWt) increased under I2e[CO2]a by 45.16% in AW 2021 but decreased under I2e[CO2]a by 15.76% in SS 2022 compared with that in CK. Compared with that under CK, the WUE under I1e[CO2]a, I2e[CO2]a and I3e[CO2]a in AW 2021 was significantly greater (P < 0.05) than that under I1e[CO2]a and I2e[CO2]a in SS 2022. The maximum daily transpiration was reduced under I1e[CO2]a by 56.10% and I2e[CO2]a by 71.62% in AW 2021 and SS 2022, respectively, compared with that in the CK. This study could provide significant insight into future crop growth and transpiration variation under water stress and the mitigation of adverse effects of water stress by e[CO2]a.