Reduced rice yield due to climate change

Scientists at Auburn University in Montgomery have found that climate change is accompanied by an increase in carbon dioxide concentrations, which can lead to phosphorus deficiency and lower crop yields in poor countries.

The journal Nature Geoscience points out that the researchers conducted two experiments that lasted, respectively, 9 and 15 years – to enrich atmospheric air with carbon dioxide (enrichment of carbon dioxide in free air) in areas where rice grows. Although the researchers did not notice any change in the first year, over the last year it was found that the level of phosphorus in the soil decreased by 26.9 percent after 15 years and by 21 percent after 9 years.

The low level of phosphorus in the soil can be explained by the formation of organic phosphorus in the soil, which is not always absorbed by plants, in addition to its increased removal at harvest. The increase in the conversion of biological, biochemical and chemical phosphorus to plant-available phosphorus during human-induced climate change is not sufficient to compensate for the deficiency resulting from long-term exposure to high levels of carbon dioxide.

The results of this study are cause for concern, scientists said, given the continued rise in carbon dioxide emissions from human activity and its high concentrations in the atmosphere in the future.

Source: Linta. EN