Zhu XK Feng ZZ Sun TF et al.. Effects of elevated ozone concentration on yield of four Chinese cultivars of winter wheat under fully open-air field. Global Change Biology 2011 17(8): 2697-2706. (IF 6.346 环境科学，一区）
Abstract
Four modern cultivars of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were grown under elevated ozone concentration (E-O(3)) in fully open-air field conditions in China for three consecutive growth seasons from 2007 to 2009. Results indicated that a mean 25% enhancement above the ambient ozone concentration (A-O(3) 45.7 p.p.b.) significantly reduced the grain yield by 20% with significant variation in the range from 10% to 35% among the combinations of cultivar and season. The varietal difference in the yield response to E-O(3) became nonsignificant when the ANOVA was done by omitting one cultivar which showed unstable response to E-O(3) among the seasons. The reduction of individual grain mass accounted mostly for the yield loss by E-O(3) and showed significant difference between the cultivars. The response of relative yield to E-O(3) was not significantly different from those reported in China Europe and India on the basis of experiments in open-top chambers. Our results thus confirmed the rising threat of surface O(3) on wheat production worldwide in the near future. Various countermeasures are urgently needed against the crop losses due to O(3) such as mitigation of the increase in surface O(3) with stricter pollution control and enhancement of the wheat tolerance against O(3) by breeding and management.
