School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 2 of 2
-
ItemFunctional aspects of root and leaf development in dryland crop water use under elevated CO2( 2018)Atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2]) is rising due to anthropogenic activities and is expected to reach ~550 μmol mol-1 by 2050 and exceed ~700 μmol mol-1 by the end of this century. As the main substrate of photosynthesis, this rising [CO2] has direct implications for plant metabolism, such as stimulating net photosynthetic CO2 assimilation rate (Anet) in C3 crops and leading to greater biomass production and yield through the so-called ‘CO2 fertilisation effect’. In addition, elevated [CO2] (e[CO2]) lowers stomatal conductance (gs), and thus may reduce transpiration rate. Increased assimilation and lower transpiration result in higher leaf-level water use efficiency, which lead to the assumption that crop water use will be lower under e[CO2]. On the other hand, e[CO2] increases leaf area, which tends to increase transpiration and therefore canopy water use. Therefore, the net response of crop water use to e[CO2] is dependent on the balance between e[CO2]-induced reduction of gs and e[CO2]-induced stimulation of transpiring leaf area. These responses under e[CO2] are further complicated by other environmental variables and growing conditions. The response of crop water use to e[CO2] will be of particular interest for dryland agriculture, where water is nearly always the most limiting factor for crop production. This project investigated the functional aspects of root and leaf development on water use of dryland wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and canola (Brassica napus L.) under a future e[CO2] using experiments with different water and nitrogen regimes, soil types and cultivars. Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) technology was used to simulate future growing conditions in the field with a target atmospheric [CO2] expected by the middle of this century. This was supplemented by glasshouse studies to investigate crop physiological response to e[CO2] under more controlled conditions. Increased leaf-level water use efficiency under e[CO2] stimulated biomass and yield per unit water used, but this commonly resulted in little change in seasonal water use in this dryland, terminal drought environment. However, the dynamics of crop water use during the growing season varied depending on [CO2], whereby early in the season greater stimulation of leaf growth counteracted the increased leaf-level water use efficiency and resulted in greater water use under e[CO2] relative to a[CO2]. Under field conditions, the accumulated water use at the end of the season was then similar both under a[CO2] and e[CO2], pointing to the overriding effect of the seasonal conditions. Under water-limited conditions, e[CO2]-induced stimulation of root growth especially in the deeper soil layers maintained plant physiological processes by improving access to deeper soil water. This greater assimilation rate later in the season ensured better assimilate supply to the developing grains, which resulted in better yield benefits from the ‘CO2 fertilisation effect’. In addition, this thesis shows that interactions between growing conditions (experimental water and N regimes) and expression of genotypic traits (cultivars contrasting in vigour, transpiration efficiency and N use efficiency) play a decisive role in determining potential biomass and yield benefits from rising [CO2]. Observed genotypic variability in response to e[CO2] suggests a potential breeding opportunity to maximise the benefit from ‘CO2 fertilisation effect’.
-
ItemAntioxidant defence systems and symptom expression of wheat infected with Barley yellow dwarf virus and grown under elevated CO2( 2016)Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) is regarded as the most significant viral pathogen of wheat worldwide. Symptoms produced during viral infection may have an interactive effect with environmental conditions expected under future anthropogenic climate change, including the rising atmospheric CO2 concentration. In particular, antioxidant defence systems – including the key non-enzymatic antioxidants ascorbate and glutathione – play an important role in regulating potentially harmful reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced during plant-virus interactions. However, the role of ascorbate and glutathione during systemic virus infection and growth under elevated CO2 (eCO2) is not well understood. This thesis investigated BYDV infection of three Australian wheat cultivars: the BYDV-susceptible spring wheat ‘Yitpi’, the susceptible winter wheat ‘Revenue’ and the resistant winter wheat ‘Manning’. In addition, the system was investigated under eCO2 to determine any interactions with infection on symptom expression and antioxidant defence capacity. Studies were performed within controlled environment chambers and the field at the Australian Grains Free Air CO2 Enrichment (AGFACE) facility located in the semi-arid grain-growing region of Horsham, Victoria, Australia. The response of plants to virus infection and eCO2 was assessed by measurement of the total concentration and redox state of ascorbate and glutathione. In addition, symptom expression was measured including growth, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, leaf chlorophyll and nitrogen, and disease incidence and severity. BYDV infection was associated with an imbalance in antioxidative metabolism, which is an indicator of oxidative stress. Greater ROS turnover is the likely cause of the observed decrease in total ascorbate and glutathione and increase in the oxidised fraction of ascorbate after infection. In particular, a decrease in total ascorbate was the most consistent response to infection by all cultivars grown in both chambers and the field. The present research demonstrates that the observed imbalance in non-enzymatic antioxidant metabolism can be used as a marker for oxidative stress during systemic BYDV infection of wheat. The antioxidant response of both the BYDV-susceptible and resistant winter wheat cultivars was similar. Oxidative stress was not influenced by the putatively different virus concentration between these cultivars, but simply by virus infection alone. Infection was also associated with decreased biomass and height in both these cultivars and in both chamber and field studies, which indicates a sensitivity of the resistant cultivar to infection regardless of a putatively lower virus concentration. Despite few interactive effects between virus and eCO2 treatments on symptom expression, eCO2 altered the expression of yellowing disease symptoms in virus-infected plants, although not consistently between cultivars and environmental growing conditions. In addition, although there were significant changes to antioxidants in plants grown under eCO2, results were not consistent between studies. Research into this topic increases our understanding of how plants respond to virus infection and oxidative stress, and how plant-virus interactions may change under future eCO2. With the findings presented in this thesis, I have furthered the knowledge of this area by elucidating the response of ascorbate and glutathione during systemic wheat-BYDV interactions, and reinforced the potential use of these metabolites as markers of oxidative stress.