Author(s)

Feng Zhao¹, Werner Heller¹, Susanne Stich¹, Jörg Durner^1,2, J. Barbro Winkler³, Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann^4,5, Dieter Ernst^1,5, Ulrike Frank^1,5*

¹Institute of Biochemical Plant Pathology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany, Neuherberg, Germany.
²Biochemical Plant Pathology, Technische Universitat München, Center of Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany.
³Research Unit Environmental Simulation, Helmholtz Zentrum München, München, Germany.
⁴Institute of Environmental Medicine, UNIKA-T, Technische Universitat München, Augsburg, Germany.
⁵CK-CARE, Christine Kühne—Center for Allergy Research and Education, Davos-Wolfgang, Switzerland.

Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. (common ragweed) is an annual ruderal plant that is native to Northern America but nowadays is also spreading across Europe, and its pollen is known to be highly allergenic. Air pollution, e.g. NOx and climate change may affect the plant growth, pollen production and duration of the entire pollen season. In this study, ragweed plants were grown over an entire vegetation period under 40 ppb NO₂/clean air (control) and 80 ppb NO₂ (treatment). The inflorescence length was not affected by this air pollutant. However, the pollen amount increased, while the seed production decreased in both populations upon elevated NO₂ concentrations. Regarding phenolic metabolites elevated NO₂ had no effect on the amount of total phenolic metabolites, while individual metabolites showed significant changes.

Air Pollution, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Flavonoids, Pollen, Ragweed, Seeds

Zhao, F. , Heller, W. , Stich, S. , Durner, J. , Winkler, J. , Traidl-Hoffmann, C. , Ernst, D. and Frank, U. (2017) Effects of NO₂ on Inflorescence Length, Pollen/Seed Amount and Phenolic Metabolites of Common Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.). American Journal of Plant Sciences, 8, 2860-2870. doi: 10.4236/ajps.2017.811194.