Temperature Effects on Rice at Elevated CO2Concentration

The continuing increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration (CO2) and projections of possible future increases in globalair temperatures have stimulated interest in the effects of these climate variables on agriculturally important food crops. Thisstudy was conducted to determine the effects of CO2 and temperature on rice (Oryza sativa L., cv. IR–30). Rice plants weregrown season-long in outdoor, naturally sunlit, controlled-environment, plant growth chambers in temperature regimes ranging from 25/18/21°C to 37/30/34°C (daytime dry bulb air temperature/night-time dry bulb air temperature/paddy water temperature)and CO2 of 660 μmol CO2 mol1 air. An ambient chamber was maintained at a CO2 of 330 μmol mol–1 and temperature regimes of 28/21/25°C. Carbon dioxide enrichment at 28/21/25°C increased both biomass accumulation and tillering and increased grain yield by 60%. In the 660 μmol mol–1 CO2 treatment, grain yield decreased from 10.4 to 1.0 Mg ha−1 with increasing temperature from 28/21/25°C to the 37/30/34°C temperature treatment. Across this temperature range, the number of panicles plant–1 nearly doubled while the number of seeds panicle–1 declined sharply. These results indicate that while future increases in atmospheric CO2 are likely to be beneficial to rice growth and yield, potentially large negative effects on rice yield are possible if air temperatures also rise.