A DIAGNOSTIC EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF EFFECTS OF CO2 ENRICHMENT ON COTTON GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND YIELD

A series of experiments were conducted about the effects of different CO₂ concentrations and ventilating time on cotton using OPT-1 open top chambers.The results show that.for all the ventilating treatments,the development stages of cotton were advanced,plant height increased,the biomass of root and stalk increased when CO₂ concentration increased:the number of bolls formed in summer was more than 85% of the total for the treatment of 700 ppm CO₂ concentration;single boll weight,the number of bolls per plant,ginned and unginned cotton weights,and stalk weight increased obviously when CO₂ concentration increased,but the influences of CO₂ enrichment on the ratio of ginned weight to the total weight of ginned and unginned cotton,fibre length and ginned weight of 100-seed were small.