Origin of Bel-W3, Bel-C and Bel-B tobacco varieties and their use as indicators of ozone.

Since 1962, the tobacco variety Bel-W3 (Nicotiana tabacum L.), has been used in many countries as an indicator of the presence of phytotoxic concentrations of O(3). It is super-sensitive to O(3) and may produce easily recognizable symptoms for several weeks on the new, fully expanded leaves. Bel-B and Bel-C, tolerant and sensitive to O(3), respectively, are sometimes used along with Bel-W3. Information is provided on the origin and nature of these varieties. This includes their use as indicators of elevated O(3) concentrations, strength and limitations, and the inheritance and nature of resistance to O(3) in Bel-B. The varieties were the product of research initiated in 1957 to determine the cause and to reduce losses from tobacco weather fleck. Bel-C and Bel-B display the classical upper leaf surface injury; whereas, Bel-W3 develops primarily bifacial lesions. Data are provided to show differences in the amounts of acute and chronic injury on each variety when exposed to different O(3) exposure doses in controlled environments and under field conditions. There is discussion of the influence of environmental factors on response to O(3) by the varieties and the possibility of synergistic action of O(3) and SO(3) when tobacco is exposed to mixtures of these gases. The methods and results obtained with Bel-W3 in the Dutch National Monitoring Network for Air Pollution are presented in detail. Use of Bel-W3 world-wide as an indicator of elevated O(3) concentrations has been a significant factor in increasing the awareness of O(3) as a pollutant.

Soybean root distribution, top growth and yield responses to ambient ozone and soil moisture stress when grown in soil columns in greenhouses.

Soybeans (Glycine max. cv. Williams) were grown to maturity in soil columns within polyvinyl pipe and placed in greenhouses with charcoal filtered (CF) and nonfiltered (NF) air. In each greenhouse plants were grown with and without soil moisture stress (SMS). Targeted soil water potentials at 0.25 m for no SMS and between 0.45 and 0.60 m for the SMS regime were -0.05 and -0.45 M Pa, respectively. The 7 h (1000-1700 h EDT) mean O(3) concentrations (June-October) were 0.039 and 0.009 ppm in NF and CF air, respectively. Ozone and SMS in combination were less than additive in their effects on growth of the plant top and bean yields. Plants in CF air had 70% greater top weight, 58% more bean yield and 43% more root dry weight than in NF air. Both the plant and the seed weight from plants without SMS weighed 35% more than with SMS. Total root length in CF air for plants with and without SMS averaged 1.84 and 1.98 km, respectively, as compared to 1.59 and 1.66 km for plants with and without SMS in NF air. The resultsare different, so far as the combined effects of O(3) and SMS on yield and root growth are concerned, than in a similar field study by Heggestad and co-workers primarily because of the presence of a water table in the field but absence of it in the columns, as planned, in this experiment. It is unique to use large soil columns to study root distribution and length as related to the effects of ambient O(3) alone, and its combination with SMS.

Effects of ozone and soil water deficit on roots and shoots of field-grown soybeans.

Water-stressed and well-watered soybean (Glycine max cvs. Williams and Corsoy) plants were exposed to increasing seasonal doses of ozone (O(3)) using open-top field chambers and ambient air plots. Chamber O(3) treatments included charcoal filtered (CF) air, non-filtered (NF) air, NF + 0.03, NF + 0.06 and NF + 0.09 microl litre(-1) O(3). Soil water potentials measured at 25 and 45 cm averaged -0.40 MPa and -0.05 MPa, respectively, for the plots in the water-stressed and well-watered series. Total root length/core, root length densities, and biomasses (dry weights) were determined. With Williams, a very popular cultivar in recent years, total root length for all O(3) treatments averaged 58% more under water-stress conditions than in well-watered plots, but the range was from 136% to 11% more for NF air and NF + 0.09 microl litre(-1) O(3), respectively. Increasing the O(3) exposure dose did not affect root lengths or weights in the well-watered series. With Corsoy, water stress did not significantly increase root development. In both soil moisture regimes, with both cultivars, there was a linear decrease in seed yield and top dry weight as the O(3) exposure dose increased.

Photochemical oxidants potentiate yield losses in snap beans attributable to sulfur dioxide.

Field-grown snap beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) were given recurring midday exposures to sulfur dioxide in open-top field chambers containing ambient photochemical oxidants. There was a linear correlation (correlation coefficient = -.99) between increasing concentrations of sulfur dioxide and the yields of snap beans. Synergism was indicated for the mixtures of ambient ozone plus sulfur dioxide, leading to threefold greater yield losses in nonfiltered air than in charcoal-filtered air (to remove the ozone). Even the lowest sulfur dioxide dose in nonfiltered air reduced the yields of Astro, a cultivar that exhibited no visible pollutant-induced foliar injury.

Retardation of Senescence in Red Clover Leaf Discs by a New Antiozonant, N-[2-(2-Oxo-1-imidazolidinyl)ethyl]-N'-phenylurea.

Dark-induced senescence in leaf discs from O(3)-sensitive red clover trifoliates (Trifolium pratense L. cv. ;Pennscott') was markedly retarded by treatment with N-[2-(2-oxo-1-imidazolidinyl)ethyl-N'-phenylurea (EDU). EDU also protects against acute and chronic foliar O(3) injury when sprayed on intact leaves or supplied to the plants through soil application. Senescence retardation was measured by time-dependent analyses of chlorophyll, protein, and RNA in discs floated on aqueous EDU solutions ranging from 0 to 500 micrograms per milliliter EDU. Chlorophyll degradation, total protein, and nucleic acids were followed over 10-day test periods.EDU at 500 micrograms per milliliter (50 milligrams per pot), a concentration known to provide optimal protection to intact leaves against O(3) injury, was most effective in preventing chlorosis and in maintaining high concentrations of protein and RNA in the discs. In discs treated with 500 micrograms per milliliter EDU 90% of the chlorophyll was retained after 10 days in the dark. In contrast, lower concentrations (0, 125, and 250 micrograms per milliliter) showed the complete loss of chlorophyll or an intermediate retardation. The intermediate concentrations were similarly less effective in maintaining protein and RNA levels in the dark stressed leaf discs. It is suggested that EDU retards senescence and mitigates O(3) injury through the induction of specific free radical scavenging enzymes and in sustaining RNA and protein synthesis.

Ozone and sulfur dioxide synergism: injury to tobacco plants.

Tobacco plants displayed ozone-type injury when exposed to mixtures of ozone and sulfur dioxide at subthreshold concentrations. The syndrome suggests synergism between ozone and sulfur dioxide that lowers thresholds to injury; exposure to the individual gases at the mixed-gas concentrations caused no symptoms.