Atmospheric CO2 concentration affects the life cycle, yield, and fruit quality of early maturing edible legume cultivars

Abstract

Atmospheric CO2concentration affects the lifecycle, yield, and fruit quality of early maturingedible legume cultivarsIdoia Garmendia,aSakineh Rashidi,b†Marilyn RA Quezada-Salirrosasb‡andNieves Goicoecheab*AbstractBACKGROUND: Elevated CO2usually reduces levels of proteins and essential micronutrients in crops. The adoption of earlymaturing varieties may minimize the deleterious effect of climate change on farming activities. Legumes stand out for theirhigh nutritional quality, so the objective was to study whether the atmospheric CO2concentration affected the growth, yield,and food quality of early maturing cultivars of peas, snap beans, and faba beans. Plants grew in greenhouses either at ambient(ACO2, 392∼mol mol−1) or under elevated (ECO2, 700∼mol mol−1)CO2levels. Minerals, proteins, sugars, and phenolic com-pounds were measured in grains of peas and faba beans, and in pods of snap beans.RESULTS: The effect of ECO2depended on legume species, being more evident for food quality than for vegetative growth andyield. The ECO2increased Fe and P in faba bean grains, and Ca in snap bean pods. Under ECO2, grains of pea and faba beanincreased levels of proteins and phenolics, respectively, and the sugars-to-protein ratio decreased in pods of snap beans.CONCLUSION: Early maturing varieties of legumes appear to be an interesting tool to cope with the negative effects that a longexposure to rising CO2can exert on food quality.