TITLE:
Effects of NO2 on Inflorescence Length, Pollen/Seed Amount and Phenolic Metabolites of Common Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.)
AUTHORS:
Feng Zhao, Werner Heller, Susanne Stich, Jörg Durner, J. Barbro Winkler, Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann, Dieter Ernst, Ulrike Frank
KEYWORDS:
Air Pollution, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Flavonoids, Pollen, Ragweed, Seeds
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.8 No.11,
October
30,
2017
ABSTRACT: Ambrosia
artemisiifolia L. (common ragweed) is an annual ruderal plant that
is native to Northern America but nowadays is also spreading across Europe, and
its pollen is known to be highly allergenic. Air pollution, e.g. NOx and
climate change may affect the plant growth, pollen production and duration of
the entire pollen season. In this study, ragweed plants were grown over an
entire vegetation period under 40 ppb NO2/clean air (control) and 80
ppb NO2 (treatment). The inflorescence length was not affected by
this air pollutant. However, the pollen amount increased, while the seed
production decreased in both populations upon elevated NO2 concentrations.
Regarding phenolic metabolites elevated NO2 had no effect on the
amount of total phenolic metabolites, while individual metabolites showed
significant changes.