Abstract:
Increasing atmospheric CO
2 concentrations is generally expected to enhance photosynthesis and growth of agricultural C
3 vegetable crops and, as a result, substantially increase yields. However, little is known about the combined effect of elevated CO
2 and N species on plant growth and development. A growth chamber experiment was conducted to determine the influence of NH
+4/NO
-3 ratio and elevated CO
2 concentrations on the growth and development of tomato seedlings. Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill var. Hezuo 906) was grown for 45 days in pots with nutrient solutions varying in NH
+4:NO
-3(%) ratio (100∶0, 75∶25, 50∶50, 25∶75, 0∶100) in growth chambers with ambient(360 μL/L) or elevated CO
2 concentrations(720 μL/L). Elevated CO
2 increased photosynthetic rate and water use efficiency of tomato seedlings in all NH
+4/NO
-3 ratios in nutrient solution except ammonium-fed plants. Photosynthetic rate and water use efficiency of tomato seedlings were increased in the elevated CO
2 treatment with increasing proportion of NO
-3 in nutrient solutions and and photosynthetic rate were up to 55% higher at elevated than at ambient CO
2 concentration. At both CO
2 levels, the photosynthetic rate and water use efficiency of the plants increased as increasing proportion of NO
-3 in the nutrient solutions. The results indicate that tomato seedlings may benefit more from CO
2 enrichment when increasing proportion of NO
-3 in nutrient solutions is supplied, and elevated CO
2 does not inhibit the adverse effects on tomato seedlings when 100% NH
+4-N in nutrient solution is supplied. In all, elevated CO
2 concentration increased water saving on agricultural production and water productivity and at two CO
2 levels, NO
-3-N was the most suitable N source to tomato seedling growth, when other NH
+4/NO
-3 ratio was supplied, the growth of tomato seedling was inhibited to some extent. When the N source supplied as solely NH
+4-N, tomato seedling was hard to grow normally.