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Effects of Sulfur Dioxide and Ambient Ozone on Winter Wheat and Lettuce¹

ABSTRACT

Winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ‘Yecora Rojo’) and lettuce (Lactuca saliva L. ‘Empire’) were exposed in the field to SO₂ or ambient O₃ to determine the effects of these air pollutants on important winter grown crops. Plants were exposed with tubular air exclusion systems or in open-top field chambers to ambient air, or filtered air plus 0, 0.03, 0.07 or 0.15 µL SO₂ L^–1. Exposures were continuous from 18 Jan. to 7 May 1984 for wheat and from 18 Jan. to 13 Mar. 1984 for lettuce. Harvests to evaluate early plant growth were made after 2 to 3 weeks of exposure for each crop; final harvests were made at the end of the exposures. Wheat yield was decreased with exposure to 0.15 µL SO₂ L^–1 in open-top field chambers, but was not affected by SO₂ exposure in air exclusion systems. Lettuce yield was decreased with exposure to 0.15 µL SO₂^L–1 in air exclusion systems, but was not affected by SO₂ exposure in open-top chambers. Neither wheat nor lettuce yield was reduced by ambient O₃ in either air exclusion systems or open-top chambers. The results from the two types of exposure systems could not becompared statistically due to differences in experimental design and soil topography. However, the differences in plant growth between the two systems were dramatic when compared to outside plots. Wheat and lettuce growth and yield was only slightly greater with air exclusion systems than in outside plots, but much greater in open-top field chambers than in outside plots.

Key Words: air pollution • crop loss • Lactuca sativa L. • Triticum aestivum L. • yield

¹ Contribution from the Statewide Air Pollution Research Center, Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521. Financial support for this research was provided in part by the California Air Resources Board under Contract no. A3-057-33, and in part by the Electric Power Research Institute under Contract no. NP1908-3. Mention of a product does not constitute a guarantee or warranty by the Univ. of California, Air Resources Board, or Electric Power Research Institute, and does not imply endorsement of it to the exclusion of other products.

² Assistant Research Plant Physiologist, Assistant Research Plant Chemist, Staff Research Associate, Staff Research Associate, Laboratory Assistant, and Research Biochemist, Univ. of California, Riverside, CA, respectively.

Received for publication September 30, 1985.