Effect of enhanced UV-B radiation combined with other climate stressors on winter wheat

Abstract

Ultraviolet radiation-B (UV-B) would increase due to the Ozone depletion. Global climatic factors, such as temperature, precipitation, evapotranspiration, soil moisture and CO₂ content, are changing because of the increase of greenhouse emission and the destruction of ecosystems. Climate stress factors including enhanced UV-B irradiance have effects on crop production. Many studies have assessed the effects of enhanced UV-B on crops and impacts of global climatic change on crops separately. However, when UV-B effects were discussed, other environmental stress factors were generally neglected. It is well-known that crops in nature are seldom affected by only a single stress factor, such as UV-B radiation. The impacts of enhanced UV-B radiation can be greatly increased or decreased by other environmental stress factors. In this paper, through field and plant growth chambers experiments, combined effects of enhanced UV-B radiation with other environmental stress factors including solar visible light, temperature and soil moisture content on winter wheat were investigated. The experimental results showed that enhanced UV-B irradiance can restrain growth and development of winter wheat, which leads to reduction of plant height, leaf area, and slowing physiological activity and decreasing biomass and yield of winter wheat. The response of winter wheat to enhanced UV-B varied under different UV-B intensity and its combination with other environmental stress factors.