Ozone Effects on Plants: Two Opposite Sides of the Same Coin
Journal Title: Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research (BJSTR) - Year 2019, Vol 19, Issue 3
Abstract
Ozone, or trioxygen, is an inorganic molecule with the chemical formula O3 [1]. It is formed from dioxygen by the action of ultraviolet light (UV) and electrical discharges within the Earth’s atmosphere and touches on our modern society in many ways. Ozone is used in industrial processes and as a disinfectant due it is a strong oxidizing agent. It is a “good” gas when present in the stratosphere, where it forms the ozone layer sitting 15 to 30 kilometers above Earth that protect life from detrimental ultraviolet radiation, but when present in the lowest atmospheric layer (the troposphere, which extends 8 to 14 kilometers above Earth) ozone becomes a concern for human and plant health [2]. Our basic understanding of ozone began with the recognition by Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1840 that ozone was a unique substance produced in a variety of processes. It cannot be stored and must be generated continuously. The only result of ozone, when it decomposes, is oxygen; so, no chemical residues are related with ozone.Ozone is a secondary air pollutant at troposphere. This means that ozone is not formed directly in the ambient air by human activities, but by photochemistry, as a result of the irradiation of primary pollutants (such as NO2) by ultra-violet radiation (UV) in the presence of oxygen [3]. Chronic plants exposure to ozone causes damaging changes in plant metabolism. Cell´s damages due ozone are first displayed at the biochemical level before visible morphological symptoms can be seen [4]. Photosynthesis, respiration, nitrogen and lipid exchanges are all affected, along with the activities of the secondary metabolism. Later, visible damage appears, such as necrotic spots and bronze coloration on leaves [3,4]. Ground-level ozone is a threat to food production as it has a negative impact on the yield and quality of important staple crops [5]. Some important agricultural regions located close to urban and industrial centres experience elevated ozone concentrations; these include the Midwestern USA, much of mainland Europe, the South Asia’s Indo-Gangetic plains, and the coast of China. Global relative yield losses due to O3 damage are estimated to range between 7% and 12% for wheat, 6% and 16% for soybean, 3% and 4% for rice and 3% and 5% for maize [4,6]. In India it was calculated that O3 damage to wheat and rice resulted in a nationally aggregated yield loss of 9.2%, that is sufficient to feed 94 million people living below the poverty line in that country [7]. In developing countries, especially South and East Asia, ozone levels are rising and this trend will continue at least until 2030 unless emissions of ozone precursors are reduced significantly. Many countries have begun to establishing policies to control ozone´s levels by regulating its precursors, imposing regionally specific emission fees which are leading to reduce agricultural damages [6,8-10] and, also development robust crop growth models capable of including ozone effects that would substantially improve future national, regional and global risk assessments that aim to assess the role that ozone might play under future climatic conditions in limiting food supply.
Authors and Affiliations
José Efraín González Ramírez
Keywords
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- EP ID EP621746
- DOI 10.26717/BJSTR.2019.19.003297
- Views 160
- Downloads 0
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