Interactive effects of elevated CO2 and soil n availability on selected medicinal plants

Abstract

Earth s atmospheric CO2 concentration is expected to be doubled by the year newline2100. Such a drastic increase can be expected to have a strong impact on plant newlinegrowth and metabolism as CO2 is directly utilized as a substrate in photosynthesis. newlineIncreased rate of growth under elevated CO2 also affects the requirement of newlinenutrients especially nitrogen. Elevated CO2 is known to cause reduction in foliar newlineN because of excessive photosynthetic activity and dilution due to carbohydrates newlineaccumulation. Therefore, reduction in foliar N may directly affect photosynthetic newlineactivity under elevated CO2 and hence on the growth and metabolism of the newlineplants. Secondary metabolites synthesized in several medicinal plants have been newlineacknowledged for their pharmacological properties and are used in treatment of newlineseveral human health related problems. Changes in availability of carbon and N newlinealso alter C/N balance, which indicates adjustment of photosynthates between newlinegrowth and secondary metabolism. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to newlineinvestigate the interactive effects of elevated CO2 and soil N availability on newlineselected medicinal plants. newline