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- Title
Large-scale plant growth chamber design for elevated pCO<sub>2</sub> and δ13C studies.
- Authors
Hagopian, William M.; Schubert, Brian A.; Jahren, A. Hope
- Abstract
RATIONALE: Throughout at least the next century, CO2 fertilization and environmental stresses (e.g. nutrient, moisture, insect herbivory) are predicted to affect yields of economically important crop species. Stable isotopes of carbon are used to study plant stresses, which affect yields, but a growth chamber design that can be used to isolate the effects of environmental stresses on crop-sized species through precise maintenance of pCO2 levels and the δ13C values of atmospheric CO2 (δ13CCO2) is lacking. METHODS:We designed and built low-cost plant growth chambers for growing staple crop species under precise pCO2 and δ13CCO2 conditions. Over the course of 14 hours, we assessed for pCO2 stability at two targeted levels (ambient, ~400 ppm; and 2', ~800 ppm) and measured the δ13CCO2 value within the two chambers using a stable isotope ratio mass spectrometer. We also compared the temperature and relative humidity conditions within the two growth chambers, and in the ambient, outside air. RESULTS: Across our experimental period, we achieved δ13CCO2 stability (ambient: -8.05 ± 0.17%; elevated: -12.99 ± 0.29%) that showed nearly half the variability of any previously reported values for other chamber designs. The stability of the pCO2 conditions (ambient: 406 ± 3 ppm; elevated: 793 ± 54 ppm) was comparable with that in previous studies, but our design provided ~8 times more growing space than previous chamber designs. We also measured nearly identical temperature and relative humidity conditions for the two chambers throughout the experiment. CONCLUSIONS: Our growth chamber design marks a significant improvement in our ability to test for plant stress across a range of future pCO2 scenarios. Through significant improvement in δ13CCO2 stability and increased chamber size, small changes in carbon isotope fractionation can be used to assess stress in crop species under specific environmental (temperature, relative humidity, pCO2) conditions.
- Subjects
PLANT growth; STABLE isotopes; EFFECT of stress on plants; STABLE isotope analysis; MASS spectrometers; GROWTH cabinets &; rooms
- Publication
Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry: RCM, 2015, Vol 29, Issue 5, p440
- ISSN
0951-4198
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/rcm.7121