Interspecific competition changes photosynthetic and oxidative stress response of barley and barnyard grass to elevated CO2 and temperature

Authors

• Irena Januskaitiene Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
• Jūratė Žaltauskaitė Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
• Austra Dikšaitytė Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
• Gintarė Sujetovienė Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
• Diana Miškelytė Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
• Giedrė Kacienė Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
• Sandra Sakalauskienė Institute of Horticulture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Kaunas,Lithuania
• Jurga Miliauskienė Institute of Horticulture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Kaunas, Lithuania
• Romualdas Juknys Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.67840

Keywords:

interspecific competition, climate change, photosynthesis, JIP-test, oxidative stress

Abstract

This work focuses on the investigation of competition interaction between C3 crop barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and C4 weed barnyard grass (Echinochloa crus-galli L.) at 2 times higher than ambient [CO2] and +4 0C higher ambient temperature climate conditions. It was hypothesized that interspecific competition will change the response of the investigated plants to increased [CO2] and temperature. The obtained results showed that in the current climate conditions, a higher biomass and photosynthetic rate and a lower antioxidant activity were detected for barley grown under interspecific competition effect. While in the warmed climate and under competition conditions opposite results were detected: a higher water use efficiency, a higher photosynthetic performance, a lower dissipated energy flux and a lower antioxidant enzymes activity were detected for barnyard grass plants. This study highlights that in the future climate conditions, barnyard grass will become more efficient in performance of the photosynthetic apparatus and it will suffer from lower oxidative stress caused by interspecific competition as compared to barley.