More carbon dioxide helps thirsty cotton plants, but not completely
Climate Adaptation
The cotton in your t-shirts and bedsheets is grown by farmers already wrestling with erratic rainfall, and this research shows rising CO2 levels won't be a free pass out of drought-driven crop losses.
Scientists grew cotton plants in a controlled chamber under two watering levels and two CO2 levels, one matching today's atmosphere and one matching future projections. Plants with extra CO2 handled drought stress better, keeping more of their ability to breathe and make food through photosynthesis, and they ultimately produced about 20% more cotton fiber. But the higher CO2 couldn't stop drought from making flowers produce fewer seed-bearing ovules or from degrading fiber quality, showing that more carbon in the air helps growth but doesn't fix everything.
Key Findings
Under drought with normal CO2, photosynthesis dropped 35% and stomatal conductance dropped 63%; with elevated CO2 the drops were smaller (20% and 36%)
Elevated CO2 boosted seed cotton and lint weights by 20% under both control and drought conditions, but drought still cut seed cotton and lint weights by 19% and 15%
Drought reduced ovules per flower by 21% and worsened fiber quality (26% higher micronaire, 4% shorter fiber length) regardless of CO2 level
chevron_right Technical Summary
Extra CO2 in the air helps cotton plants cope better with drought, cushioning losses in photosynthesis and boosting yield, but it can't fully protect flower development or fiber quality.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Carbon Dioxide Enrichment Partially Alleviates the Impact of Drought Stress on Cotton Growth and Yield
This study investigated the effects of drought during reproductive and boll development stages under elevated CO2 conditions. A pot experiment was conducted in the Soil–Plant–Atmospheric-Research (...
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