Free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) reduces the inhibitory effect of soil nitrate on N2 fixation of Pisum sativum

CR Butterly; R Armstrong; D Chen; C Tang

Journal article

Free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) reduces the inhibitory effect of soil nitrate on N2 fixation of Pisum sativum

CR Butterly, R Armstrong, D Chen, C Tang

Annals of Botany | Published : 2016

DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcv140

Abstract

Background and Aims Additional carbohydrate supply resulting from enhanced photosynthesis under predicted future elevated CO2 is likely to increase symbiotic nitrogen (N) fixation in legumes. This study examined the interactive effects of atmospheric CO2 and nitrate (NO3-) concentration on the growth, nodulation and N fixation of field pea (Pisum sativum) in a semi-arid cropping system. Methods Field pea was grown for 15 weeks in a Vertosol containing 5, 25, 50 or 90 mg NO3--N kg-1 under either ambient CO2 (aCO2; 390 ppm) or elevated CO2 (eCO2; 550 ppm) using free-air CO2 enrichment (SoilFACE). Key Results Under aCO2, field pea biomass was significantly lower at 5 mg NO3--N kg-1 than at 90 m..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Clayton Butterly Author

Roger Armstrong Author

Deli Chen Author

Related Projects (1)

BELOW-GROUND PROCESSES: FILLING THE MISSING GAP IN PREDICTING THE RESPONSE OF GRAIN PRODUCTION TO ELEVATED CO2 IN SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA

Climate change is expected to have major impacts on the Australian grains industry, which is worth $7 billion annually. Although increases i..

Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council Linkage Project

Funding Acknowledgements

This research was supported by an Australian Research Council Linkage Project (LP100200757), and was conducted at the SoilFACE facility of the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources (DEDJTR), Victoria at Horsham. We are grateful to Dr Xiaojuan Wang for help in establishing experiments. Joseph Conheady worked on this study as part of his Honours project.