Effects of ozone phytotoxicity in reducing the yield and nutritional quality of chilli ( Capsicum annuum L.)
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Effects of ozone phytotoxicity in reducing the yield and nutritional quality of chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) Sehrish Khan 1 & Shahla Nazneen 1 & Sardar Khan 1 & Neelum Ali 1 Received: 10 July 2020 / Accepted: 4 October 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract This study was designed to assess the effects of tropospheric ozone (O3) on the yield and nutritional quality of chilli (Capsicum annuum L. cv. Pusa Jwala) using ethylene diurea (EDU) under field conditions in Peshawar, Pakistan. Average O3 concentration ranged between 38 and 68 ppb which is high enough to cause phytotoxic effects. Accumulated ozone exposure over a threshold of 40 ppm h (AOT40) value calculated for 3-month period was found to be substantially higher, i.e., 7.3 ppm h. Various growth and yield parameters analyzed on weekly basis showed that the plant height (6.3%), number of flowers (15%), fruits (36%), and total dry biomass (30%) and its nutritional quality parameters such as mean crude protein, fat, and fiber showed 24%, 100%, and 12% better results in EDU-treated plants as compared with control, respectively. However, mineral contents showed no significant difference (p < 0.05) for both the groups. The results of this study concluded that ambient O3 is a threat to the selected plant species thus affecting its quality and yield and EDU remains successful in protecting the chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) against the negative effects of tropospheric ozone. Keywords Ozone . EDU . Chilli Capsicum annuum L. . Biomass . Ozone protectant
Introduction As a secondary pollutant, tropospheric ozone (O3) is a product from photochemical reaction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (Nox). It is an important phytotoxic air pollutant (Avnery et al. 2011; Fuks et al. 2019) and tropospheric oxidant (Tiwari et al. 2005; Wahid 2006), causing significant damage to crops, forests, trees (Dalstein and Ciriani 2019; Paoletti et al. 2009), and human health (Ahmad et al. 2013). With increasing urbanization and industrialization, tropospheric O3 is increasing (Stocker et al. 2013) and considered an important air pollutant which significantly reduces the productivity of various agricultural crops (Avnery et al. 2011; Calatayud et al. 2004), causes foliar injuries (Bortier et al. 2001), and damages plant growth (Han et al. 2020) due to Responsible Editor: Gangrong Shi * Shahla Nazneen [email protected] 1
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan
increase oxidative stress (Pandey et al. 2018). Tropospheric O3 affects the metabolic and photosynthetic activities of plants by causing structural and functional changes in membrane and increases the rate of leaf shedding. It damages the receptors of the guard cells near the stomata and induces stomatal closure and also increases intercellular CO2 concentration by modifying mesophyll CO2 fixation (Calatayud et al. 2004). Different foliar injuries have been reported by various studies due to O3 toxicity like b
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