Virus-induced differences in the response of oat plants to elevated carbon dioxide

doi:10.1046/j.1365-3040.1997.d01-63.x

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Wiley InterScience

Plant, Cell & Environment

Volume 20 Issue 2, Pages 178 - 188

Published Online: 28 Jun 2008

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Virus-induced differences in the response of oat plants to elevated carbon dioxide

C. M. MALMSTRÖM ^1, ² C. B. FIELD ¹

¹ Carnegie Institution of Washington, Department of Plant Biology, 290 Panama St., Stanford, CA 94305, USA ² Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5020, USA

Correspondence to C. Malmström, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

KEYWORDS

Avena sativa • Graminae • Poaceae • oats • barley yellow dwarf virus • carbohydrate • elevated carbon dioxide • CO₂ enrichment • pathogen

ABSTRACT

Disease is an integral element of agricultural and natural systems, but the roles pathogens play in determining ecosystem response to elevated CO₂ have rarely been examined. To investigate whether disease can alter the response of plants to CO₂, we examined the effects of doubled CO₂ (∼700 μmol mol⁻¹) on Avena sativa infected with barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV), a common pathogen of cereals and grasses. Oats infected with BYDV showed a significantly greater biomass response to CO₂ enrichment than did healthy plants. Root mass of diseased plants increased by 37–60% with CO₂ enrichment, but was largely unaffected in healthy plants. CO₂ enrichment increased midday leaf-level photosynthesis and instantaneous water use efficiency by 34 and 93% in healthy plants and by 48 and 174% in infected plants. Foliar carbohydrates increased with both CO₂ enrichment and BYDV infection, but the two factors affected individual pools dissimilarly. CO₂ enrichment may alter the epidemiology of BYDV by increasing the persistence of infected plants.