Grain quality characteristics of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) as affected by free-air CO2 enrichment

Publikations-Art

Zeitschriftenbeitrag (peer-reviewed)

Autoren

Högy, P., Brunnbauer, M., Koehler, P., Schwadorf, K., Breuer, J., Franzaring, J., Zhunusbayeva, D., Fangmeier, A.

Erscheinungsjahr

2013

Veröffentlicht in

Environmental and Experimental Botany

Band/Volume

88/

Seite (von - bis)

11-18

Spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Triso) was grown in a free-air carbon dioxide (CO₂) enrichment (FACE) system at Stuttgart-Hohenheim (Germany) in 2008 to examine effects on crop yield and grain quality. Elevated CO₂ had no significant impacts on aboveground biomass and grain yield components except for an increase in thousand grain weight by 5.4% with size distribution shifted towards larger grains. Total grain protein concentration decreased by 7.9% under CO₂ enrichment, and protein composition was altered. Total gliadins and their single types (ω5-gliadins, ω1,2-gliadins, α-gliadins, γ-gliadins) were reduced, while albumins/globulins, total glutenins and their subunits were not influenced. The gluten proteins (gliadins plus glutenins) were lowered by 11.3% in the high-CO₂ treatment, whereas proportions of gluten protein types were slightly affected as only ω1,2-gliadins decreased. Accordingly, all proteinogenic amino acids were decreased by 4.2 to 7.9% in concentrations per unit flour mass, although partly below the level of statistical significance. In contrast, the composition of amino acids on a per protein basis remained unaffected except for a decline in serine. Among the minerals, the concentrations of calcium, magnesium, iron and cobalt decreased, while an increase was observed for boron. The concentrations of total non-structural carbohydrates and starch decreased, whereas fructose, raffinose and fructan increased. Total lipid concentration remained unaffected by the CO₂ enrichment, whereas the grain carbon/nitrogen relation was increased by 8.5%. Implications may occur for consumer nutrition and health, and for industrial processing, thus breeding of new wheat cultivars that exploit CO₂ fertilisation and maintain grain quality properties is regarded as one potential option to assure the supply chain for the future.