Growth relationships in silver maple seedlings fumigated with O3 and SO2

Abstract

Growth analysis was used to measure the impact of low levels of ozone, alone and with sulfur dioxide, on the growth of silver maple (Acersaccharinum L.) seedlings. The seedlings were fumigated for up to 60 consecutive days with cither 0.05, 0.1, or 0.2 ppm ozone, alone and with 0.1 ppm SO2 for 12 h per day. Dry weight and leaf area development curves were calculated from data collected at 10-day intervals throughout the study. Growth analysis variables were calculated from these curves. Three variables, relative growth rate, relative leaf area growth rate, and relative leaf weight growth rate, were reduced by 0.2 ppm ozone and decreased even further when 0.1 ppm SO2 was applied. Neither the 0.05 nor 0.1 ppm ozone treatment decreased the relative growth rate of the silver maple seedlings. Even small differences in growth rate may produce large differences in dry matter accumulation over a growing season.