Effects of ozone on growth, yield and leaf gas exchange rates of two Bangladeshi cultivars of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

To clarify the effects of O3 on crop plants cultivated in Bangladesh, two Bangladeshi wheat cultivars (Sufi and Bijoy) were grown in plastic boxes filled with Andisol and exposed daily to charcoal-filtered air or O3 at 60 and 100 nl l−1 (10:00-17:00) from 13 March to 4 June 2008. The whole-plant dry mass and grain yield per plant of the two cultivars at the final harvest were significantly reduced by the exposure to O3. Although there was no significant effect of O3 on stomatal diffusive conductance to H2O of flag leaf, net photosynthetic rate of the leaf was significantly reduced by the exposure to O3. The sensitivity of growth, yield, yield components and leaf gas exchange rates to O3 was not significantly different between the two cultivars. The results obtained in the present study suggest that ambient levels of O3 may detrimentally affect wheat production in Bangladesh.