The role of elevated ozone on growth, yield and seed quality amongst six cultivars of mung bean

• Mung bean cultivars depicted differential sensitivity against elevated ozone.
• Ozone exposure generates excess reactive oxygen species which led to membrane damage.
• Antioxidative defense system is not efficient enough to nullify the negative impact of ozone.
• Alteration in biomass accumulation resulted in reduction in yield and seed quality.

Tropospheric ozone (O3) can be deleterious to plants by decreasing crop yield and quality. Present study was conducted on six cultivars of mung bean (HUM-1, HUM-2, HUM-6, HUM-23, HUM-24 and HUM-26) grown under ambient O3 (NFC) and elevated O3 levels (ambient+10 ppb; NFC+) in open top chambers (OTCs) for two consecutive years. Ozone monitoring data showed high mean ambient concentration of O3 at the experimental site, which was above the threshold value of 40 ppb. Ozone exposure induced symptoms of foliar injury and also depicted accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which led to increased membrane damage vis-a-vis solute leakage. Root/shoot allometric coefficient (k), yield and seed quality showed negative response to O3. Differential response of mung bean cultivars against elevated O3 was assessed by comparing the levels of antioxidants, metabolites, growth, total biomass and yield. Cultivar HUM-1 showed maximum sensitivity towards O3 as compared to other cultivars. Findings of present study emphasized the possibility of selection of suitable O3 resistant cultivars for the areas experiencing high concentrations of O3.