Abstract
Fuel prices have fluctuated wildly in the last several years, and faced with unpredictable or rising fuel costs, growers often lower temperature set points to decrease fuel use. However, plant growth and development are influenced by lower temperatures and may actually cause increases in fuel use as a result of longer production times. Alternative strategies to efficient crop production are needed. Fertility, light, and CO 2 are other environmental factors that can be manipulated within a greenhouse but how all three interact together on growth and development are surprisingly not well known. Petunia × hybrida Vilm. were grown in controlled environments in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial study investigating how light, fertility, and CO 2 influence growth and development, including shoot partitioning, nutrient uptake, and carbohydrate concentration. Generally, light enhanced flowering, both mass and fraction of total biomass, whereas increased fertility was detrimental to the proportion of biomass allocated to flowers. The influence of CO 2 was complex with high CO 2 suppressing flowering and enhancing leaf growth, but only midway through the 7-week experiment. Carbohydrate concentration remained high in elevated CO 2 , even when light and fertility were not limiting. This suggests a sink limitation, so even in high light and fertility, crop response to enhanced CO 2 was low. Although CO 2 had no size effect late in growth, CO 2 suppressed nutrient concentrations. Together, these data suggest strategies that growers may have in controlling their crop growth and development and indicate that enhanced growth (leaf and steam mass) may be at the detriment of development (flowering mass and allocation).
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Claims 9
Claim · model-written summary
Light enhanced flower mass and its share of total biomass.
- Taxon
- Petunia × hybrida Vilm.
Petunia ×hybridae0 - Treatment
- lighte1
- Outcome
- flowering, both mass and fraction of total biomasse1
- Direction
- enhancede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Petunia × hybrida Vilm.”
e1“light enhanced flowering, both mass and fraction of total biomass”
Claim · model-written summary
Increased fertility reduced the fraction of biomass allocated to flowers.
- Taxon
- Petunia × hybrida Vilm.Petunia ×hybridae0
- Treatment
- increased fertilitye1
- Outcome
- proportion of biomass allocated to flowerse1
- Direction
- detrimentale1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Petunia × hybrida Vilm.”
e1“increased fertility was detrimental to the proportion of biomass allocated to flowers”
Claim · model-written summary
High CO2 suppressed flowering midway through the seven-week experiment.
- Taxon
- Petunia × hybrida Vilm.Petunia ×hybridae0
- Treatment
- high CO 2e1
- Outcome
- floweringe1
- Direction
- suppressinge1
- Qualifier
- midway through the 7-week experimente1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Petunia × hybrida Vilm.”
e1“high CO 2 suppressing flowering and enhancing leaf growth, but only midway through the 7-week experiment”
Claim · model-written summary
High CO2 enhanced leaf growth midway through the seven-week experiment.
- Taxon
- Petunia × hybrida Vilm.Petunia ×hybridae0
- Treatment
- high CO 2e1
- Outcome
- leaf growthe1
- Direction
- enhancinge1
- Qualifier
- midway through the 7-week experimente1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Petunia × hybrida Vilm.”
e1“high CO 2 suppressing flowering and enhancing leaf growth, but only midway through the 7-week experiment”
Claim · model-written summary
Carbohydrate concentration stayed high under elevated CO2 even when light and fertility were not limiting.
- Taxon
- Petunia × hybrida Vilm.Petunia ×hybridae0
- Treatment
- elevated CO 2e1
- Outcome
- Carbohydrate concentratione1
- Direction
- remained highe1
- Qualifier
- even when light and fertility were not limitinge1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Petunia × hybrida Vilm.”
e1“Carbohydrate concentration remained high in elevated CO 2 , even when light and fertility were not limiting.”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors inferred sink limitation and low crop response to enhanced CO2 even under high light and fertility.
- Taxon
- Petunia × hybrida Vilm.Petunia ×hybridae0
- Outcome
- crop response to enhanced CO 2 was lowe1
- Qualifier
- sink limitatione1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Petunia × hybrida Vilm.”
e1“This suggests a sink limitation, so even in high light and fertility, crop response to enhanced CO 2 was low.”
Claim · model-written summary
CO2 had no effect on plant size late in growth.
- Taxon
- Petunia × hybrida Vilm.Petunia ×hybridae0
- Treatment
- CO 2e1
- Outcome
- sizee1
- Direction
- no size effecte1
- Qualifier
- late in growthe1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Petunia × hybrida Vilm.”
e1“CO 2 had no size effect late in growth”
Claim · model-written summary
CO2 suppressed nutrient concentrations late in growth.
- Taxon
- Petunia × hybrida Vilm.Petunia ×hybridae0
- Treatment
- CO 2e1
- Outcome
- nutrient concentrationse1
- Direction
- suppressede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Petunia × hybrida Vilm.”
e1“CO 2 suppressed nutrient concentrations.”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors concluded that greater leaf and stem mass may come at the expense of flowering mass and allocation.
- Taxon
- Petunia × hybrida Vilm.Petunia ×hybridae0
- Organ / stage
- leaf and steam masse1
- Outcome
- flowering mass and allocatione1
- Direction
- detrimente1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Petunia × hybrida Vilm.”
e1“enhanced growth (leaf and steam mass) may be at the detriment of development (flowering mass and allocation)”
The same questions in other papers
light · growth · Petunia x hybrida (garden petunia)Positive and negative results
7 papers in the same direction as this paper · 2 in the opposite direction · 1 reporting no difference from an alternative
- no effect
- negative
- no effect
7 papers more in this group
See all 11 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.