COMPARATIVE GROWTH IN ELEVATED CO₂ ENVIRONMENTS

Effects of long-term CO₂ enrichment on Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr) and cherry (Prunus Avium L.) plants were examined.
Both species were grown in open top chambers with elevated (ambient + ˜350 μmol mol^-1) or ambient (˜350 μmol mol^-1) CO₂ concentrations.
Cheery seedlings showed an increased WUE under elevated CO₂ at both leaf and plant scale.
All Sitka spruce and cherry plants were in exponential growth phase (although departing from initial exponentiality) throughout the experiments.
Both species showed a positive growth response to CO₂ enrichment.
The difference in total biomass at the end of the experiment was a consequence of the more rapid initial growth of the elevated CO₂ plants.
As a result the relative growth rate in elevated CO₂ exceeded that in ambient CO₂ only during the first interval of growth, and were equal and unchanged for the rest of the experimental period.
This finding may be particularly important for greenhouse crop production.

II International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops

M. Centritto

CO₂ fertilisation, elevated CO₂, growth analysis, Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr., Prunus avium L.

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1997.449.67