Impacts of air pollution on productivity of natural and cultivated tropical C4 grasses: implications in the face of land use change in Brazil

• Grant number: 20/04652-6
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: January 01, 2021
• End date: June 30, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Agreement: NERC, UKRI
• Principal Investigator: Rafael Vasconcelos Ribeiro
• Grantee: Rafael Vasconcelos Ribeiro
• Principal researcher abroad: Stephen Alexander Sitch
• Institution abroad: University of Exeter, Exeter, England
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Alexander William Cheesman ; Barbara Baesso Moura ; Elena Paoletti ; Yasutomo Hoshika
• Associated research grant: 19/06161-2 - PHYSIOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR BASES OF DROUGHT MEMORY IN SUGARCANE PLANTS, AP.R

Abstract

Sugarcane is an economically important crop in Brazil. São Paulo (SP) state, Brazil has experienced large-scale conversion of pasture to sugarcane in recent decades, with the expansion of biofuels. This rain-fed agricultural area is exposed to seasonal drought and periodic high tropospheric ozone (O3) pollution at levels known elsewhere to be detrimental to plant productivity. Counter to expectation for C4 grasses, first studies indicate sugarcane to be O3 sensitive. Our project will make a comparative assessment of the impacts of O3 on the productivity of sugarcane varieties and other natural, tropical C4 grasses. This will make use of a new and unique NERC-funded experimental facility constructed in the tropics at JCU-Cairns, Australia to collect novel data on the concomitant impact of water deficit and plant O3 sensitivity. Ozone dose response formulations will be generated, and employed in combination with spatially explicit data on both O3 concentrations and crop/pasture distributions to generate present-day, and future, crop vulnerability maps for SP. This will act as both a proof of concept, and provide useful predictions for a globally relevant region in the production of sugarcane biofuels. Industry will also benefit from knowledge about variety specific responses to O3 and underlying physiological mechanisms. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

CHEESMAN, ALEXANDER W.; BROWN, FLOSSIE; FARHA, MST NAHID; ROSAN, THAIS M.; FOLBERTH, GERD A.; HAYES, FELICITY; MOURA, BARBARA B.; PAOLETTI, ELENA; HOSHIKA, YASUTOMO; OSBORNE, COLIN P.; et al. Impacts of ground-level ozone on sugarcane production. Science of The Total Environment, v. 904, p. 11-pg., 2023-09-11. (20/04652-6)