A chlorophyll-deficient, highly reflective soybean mutant: radiative forcing and yield gaps
Sunlight absorbed at the Earth’s surface is re-emitted as longwave radiation. Increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO _2 and other greenhouse gases trap an increasing fraction of such heat, leading to global climate change. Here we show that when a chlorophyll (Chl)-deficient soybean mutant is g...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab865e |
| _version_ | 1797747470466285568 |
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| author | L Genesio R M Bright G Alberti A Peressotti G Delle Vedove G Incerti P Toscano M Rinaldi O Muller F Miglietta |
| author_facet | L Genesio R M Bright G Alberti A Peressotti G Delle Vedove G Incerti P Toscano M Rinaldi O Muller F Miglietta |
| author_sort | L Genesio |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Sunlight absorbed at the Earth’s surface is re-emitted as longwave radiation. Increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO _2 and other greenhouse gases trap an increasing fraction of such heat, leading to global climate change. Here we show that when a chlorophyll (Chl)-deficient soybean mutant is grown in the field, the fraction of solar-irradiance which is reflected, rather than absorbed, is consistently higher than in commercial varieties. But, while the effect on radiative forcing during the crop cycle at the scale of the individual experimental plot was found to be large (−4.1± 0.6 W m ^−2 ), global substitution of the current varieties with this genotype would cause a small increase in global surface albedo, resulting in a global shortwave radiative forcing of −0.003 W m ^−2 , corresponding to 4.4 Gt CO _2 eq. At present, this offsetting effect would come at the expense of reductions to yields, probably associated with different dynamic of photosynthetic response in the Chl-deficient mutant. The idea of reducing surface-driven radiative forcing by means of Chl-deficient crops therefore requires that novel high-yielding and high-albedo crops are made available soon. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:51:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-97fe9e19bc344c789773c1377fd81874 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:51:06Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-97fe9e19bc344c789773c1377fd818742023-08-09T15:08:21ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262020-01-0115707401410.1088/1748-9326/ab865eA chlorophyll-deficient, highly reflective soybean mutant: radiative forcing and yield gapsL Genesio0R M Bright1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8553-5570G Alberti2A Peressotti3G Delle Vedove4G Incerti5P Toscano6M Rinaldi7O Muller8F Miglietta9Institute of Bioeconomy, National Research Council (CNR‐IBE) , Via Caproni 8 50145, Florence, ItalyNorwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research Høgskoleveien 8 1433, Ås, NorwayInstitute of Bioeconomy, National Research Council (CNR‐IBE) , Via Caproni 8 50145, Florence, Italy; Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine , Via delle Scienze 206 33100, Udine, ItalyDepartment of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine , Via delle Scienze 206 33100, Udine, ItalyDepartment of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine , Via delle Scienze 206 33100, Udine, ItalyDepartment of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine , Via delle Scienze 206 33100, Udine, ItalyInstitute of Bioeconomy, National Research Council (CNR‐IBE) , Via Caproni 8 50145, Florence, ItalyCereal and industrial crops Research Centre, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics , S.S. 673, km 25, 200 71122, Foggia, ItalyInstitute of Bio‐ and Geosciences, IBG‐2: Plant Sciences, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425, Jülich, GermanyInstitute of Bioeconomy, National Research Council (CNR‐IBE) , Via Caproni 8 50145, Florence, ItalySunlight absorbed at the Earth’s surface is re-emitted as longwave radiation. Increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO _2 and other greenhouse gases trap an increasing fraction of such heat, leading to global climate change. Here we show that when a chlorophyll (Chl)-deficient soybean mutant is grown in the field, the fraction of solar-irradiance which is reflected, rather than absorbed, is consistently higher than in commercial varieties. But, while the effect on radiative forcing during the crop cycle at the scale of the individual experimental plot was found to be large (−4.1± 0.6 W m ^−2 ), global substitution of the current varieties with this genotype would cause a small increase in global surface albedo, resulting in a global shortwave radiative forcing of −0.003 W m ^−2 , corresponding to 4.4 Gt CO _2 eq. At present, this offsetting effect would come at the expense of reductions to yields, probably associated with different dynamic of photosynthetic response in the Chl-deficient mutant. The idea of reducing surface-driven radiative forcing by means of Chl-deficient crops therefore requires that novel high-yielding and high-albedo crops are made available soon.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab865ealbedo changeradiation managementMinnGoldclimate change mitigation |
| spellingShingle | L Genesio R M Bright G Alberti A Peressotti G Delle Vedove G Incerti P Toscano M Rinaldi O Muller F Miglietta A chlorophyll-deficient, highly reflective soybean mutant: radiative forcing and yield gaps Environmental Research Letters albedo change radiation management MinnGold climate change mitigation |
| title | A chlorophyll-deficient, highly reflective soybean mutant: radiative forcing and yield gaps |
| title_full | A chlorophyll-deficient, highly reflective soybean mutant: radiative forcing and yield gaps |
| title_fullStr | A chlorophyll-deficient, highly reflective soybean mutant: radiative forcing and yield gaps |
| title_full_unstemmed | A chlorophyll-deficient, highly reflective soybean mutant: radiative forcing and yield gaps |
| title_short | A chlorophyll-deficient, highly reflective soybean mutant: radiative forcing and yield gaps |
| title_sort | chlorophyll deficient highly reflective soybean mutant radiative forcing and yield gaps |
| topic | albedo change radiation management MinnGold climate change mitigation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab865e |
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