The effects of photochemical oxidants on the yield of snap beans

• Published in: Atmospheric environment 1980, Vol.14 (3), p.317-326
• Main Authors: Heggestad, Howard E., Heagle, Allen S., Bennett, Jesse H., Koch, E.James
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0004-6981
• DOI: 10.1016/0004-6981(80)90066-9

Effects of photochemical oxidants (primarily ozone) in the ambient air of Eastern United States on the yields of selected snap bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cultivars grown from the seedling stage to maturity in “open-top” field chambers were studied. The chambers were supplied with either carbon-filtered or nonfiltered air. The research was conducted at Beltsville, Maryland, near Washington, D.C. during 1972–1976 and at Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1972. Cultivars Bush Blue Lake (BBL) 290, BBL 274 and Gallatin 50 represented processing type beans and Astro, fresh market beans. Two crops, an early and a late crop, were grown each year. At Beltsville from 1972 to 1974, BBL 290, the most sensitive cultivar to oxidants, averaged 14% less bean yield (range 5–27%) in nonfiltered air than in filtered air. Gallatin 50 and Astro, two oxidant tolerant cultivars, yielded about the same in the two environments. The results were similar in North Carolina. In 1975 yields were greatly reduced due to heavy rains. Consequently, no measurable yield effects attributable to oxidants could be determined. In the late crop in 1976, however, BBL 274 yielded 22% less in the nonfiltered air. The other three cultivars did not exhibit statistically significant oxidant induced yield losses. Yields in ambient air field plots without chambers were essentially equivalent to those in the nonfiltered chambers indicating that chamber effects per se were minimal. The microclimates of the chambers are described in an Appendix.