Abstract
This study investigated the effect of atmospheric ammonia (NH3) on physiological traits and water- and nitrogen- (N) use efficiencies in wheat seedlings exposed to two N rates viz. control (−N) and recommended N dose (+N). Plants of two cultivars viz. high N efficient (**aoyan No. 6 (X6)) and low N efficient cultivar (Changhan No. 58 (C58)) were exposed to ambient (control, 0 nL L−1) and elevated level of NH3 (1000±40 nL L−1) in open-top chambers. As compared with ambient NH3, elevated NH3 increased the rate of photosynthesis by 34.02 and 41.75%, transpiration rate by 21.59 and 20.05%, and instantaneous transpiration efficiency by 42.35 and 18.70% (averaged for both N levels) in X6 and C58, respectively. The mean increase in photosynthetic, transpiration, and instantaneous transpiration efficiency as the result of NH3 enrichment for −N and +N treatments (averaged for both genotypes) was 40.49 and 43.39%, 34.02 and 41.75%, and 61.19 and 28.84% respectively, over ambient NH3. An increase in water use efficiency, nitrogen apparent recovery fraction, and root N-uptake efficiency in the range of 32–144.59% was recorded for elevated NH3 treatment compared with ambient NH3. As compared with ambient NH3, elevated NH3 decreased overall N-use efficiency by 20.0 and 47.61% in X6 and 15.62 and 52.77% in C58 under −N and +N, respectively. Plant exposure to elevated NH3 increased the photosynthetic and transpiration rates, water use efficiency, and Nr and root N-uptake efficiency while decreasing overall N-use efficiency as compared with ambient NH3.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the staff of the Key Laboratory of Crop Physi-ecology and Tillage Science in Northwestern Loess Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China.
Funding
This work was supported by “the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project of University Students in Northwest A&F University.” This work was also supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 31400332 and 31871562) and the National Key R&D Program of China (2021YFD1900700, 2021YFD1901102-3).
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Conceptualization: XC and XR; methodology: ZY and SH; formal analysis: ZY; data curation: ZY and SH; statistical analysis: SH; writing—original draft preparation: ZY; writing—review and editing: SH, MF, BCT, XC, and XR. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
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Yan, Z., Hussain, S., Yang, S. et al. Elevated Ammonia Increases Water and Nitrogen Use Efficiencies by Raising Net Photosynthesis and Transpiration Rate in Winter Wheat. Water Air Soil Pollut 234, 641 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-023-06652-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-023-06652-7