Background: Vegetables provide essential parts of healthy, balanced diets in our daily life. Climatic warming is challenging the global vegetable productions, but realistic real-time evidences, especially in temperate regions, are still lacking. In this study, we developed two large, customized, fully artificial climate-controlled chambers capable of replicating the complexity of natural environmental fluctuations. We simulated two temperature treatments - the observed real-time daily average temperature over the past 32 years in northeast China, and an arbitrary increase of +2 °C for each day - on two leafy vegetables, pak choi and lettuce.
Results: The results show that warming shortened the growing-season length by 1-2 days for both vegetables. But on growth, the two vegetables differed greatly. The canopy development of lettuce was accelerated, with an increase in leaf area index, efficiency of photosynthesis, and final yield (+35.2%). Pak choi had only 6.8% of yield increase. Furthermore, we observed no significant change in the overall quality level of the two vegetables, although individual components varied.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture publishes peer-reviewed original research, reviews, mini-reviews, perspectives and spotlights in these areas, with particular emphasis on interdisciplinary studies at the agriculture/ food interface.
Published for SCI by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
SCI (Society of Chemical Industry) is a unique international forum where science meets business on independent, impartial ground. Anyone can join and current Members include consumers, business people, environmentalists, industrialists, farmers, and researchers. The Society offers a chance to share information between sectors as diverse as food and agriculture, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, materials, chemicals, environmental science and safety. As well as organising educational events, SCI awards a number of prestigious honours and scholarships each year, publishes peer-reviewed journals, and provides Members with news from their sectors in the respected magazine, Chemistry & Industry .
Originally established in London in 1881 and in New York in 1894, SCI is a registered charity with Members in over 70 countries.