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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Adaptive Cropping Systems Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #336166
Title: Using FACE systems to screen wheat cultivars for yield increases at elevated CO2

Author
item BUNCE, JAMES - Volunteer

Submitted to: Agronomy
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/20/2017
Publication Date: 2/24/2017
Citation: Bunce, J.A. 2017. Using FACE systems to screen wheat cultivars for yield increases at elevated CO2. Agronomy. 7:20-26.

Interpretive Summary: Because of continuing increases in atmospheric CO2, identifying cultivars of crops with larger yield increases at elevated CO2 may provide an avenue to increase crop yield potential in future climates. These experiments tested a new approach to screening of cultivars of wheat for improved yield responses to elevated CO2. The approach used multiple subplots of each cultivar within a single elevated CO2 treatment plot. The results will be of interest to scientists attempting to improve the response of crops to rising atmospheric CO2.

Technical Abstract: Because of continuing increases in atmospheric CO2, identifying cultivars of crops with larger yield increases at elevated CO2 may provide an avenue to increase crop yield potential in future climates. Free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) systems have most often been used with multiple replications of each CO2 treatment in order to increase confidence in the effect of elevated CO2. For screening of cultivars for yield increases at elevated CO2, less precision about the CO2 effect, but more precision about cultivar ranking within CO2 treatments is appropriate. As a small scale test of this approach, three plots each of four cultivars of wheat were grown in single FACE and control plots over two years, and the cultivar rankings of yield at elevated and ambient CO2 were compared. Each replicate plot was the size used in traditional cultivar comparisons. An additional test using four smaller replicate plots per cultivar within one FACE and one ambient plot was used to compare nine cultivars in another year. In all cases, elevated CO2 altered the ranking of cultivars for yield. This approach may provide a more efficient way to utilize FACE systems for the screening of CO2 responsiveness.