Paper Reviewed

Yubi, Y., Jun, L., Haiyang, N. and Xiuyun, Z. 2019. Collaborative influence of elevated CO2 concentration and high temperature on potato biomass accumulation and characteristics. Open Chemistry 17: 728-737.

Chinese scientists Yubi et al. (2019) examined the interactive effects of elevated CO2 and temperature on various growth and biomass characteristics of potato (Solanum tuberosum), the fourth major global food crop.

Their work was conducted at the Lanzhou Institute of Arid Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration, Lanzhou, China, in 2016 and 2017. Potato plants (cv. New Daping) were grown in open-top chambers under ambient (370 ppm) or elevated (650 ppm) concentrations of atmospheric CO2, with the extra CO2 being supplied continuously during daylight hours (0700-1900 hours). Air temperatures were maintained at either ambient or ambient plus 2°C.

According to the researchers, the results showed that “the accumulation of dry weight of potato stem and aboveground biomass under the combined treatment of elevated CO2 concentration and high temperature (warming) was significantly higher than that of the control group by 35.8%-53.4% and significantly higher than that of the warming treatment group by 24.4%-34.4%.” Belowground tuber growth at the mature stage also benefitted from elevated CO2 and warming; it was 24.1% higher than the warming treatment alone and 3.4% higher than the control treatment of ambient CO2 and ambient temperature.

All in all, it appears that potato yields will increase in the future due to elevated CO2, elevated temperature or a combination of such factors. And that is great news for growers and consumers of this important global food crop.

This article appeared on the CO2 Science website at http://www.co2science.org/articles/V23/mar/a3.php