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Disease Detection and Losses

Effects of Ozone and Sulfur Dioxide on Yield of Winter Wheat. R. J. Kohut, Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853; R. G. Amundson, J. A. Laurence, L. Colavito, P. van Leuken, and P. King. Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. Phytopathology 77:71-74. Accepted for publication 17 April 1986. Copyright 1987 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-77-71.

In studies conducted in consecutive years, winter wheat was exposed to O₃ alone and to O₃ and SO₂, alone and in combination, to evaluate impacts on yield. In both years, exposure to O₃ resulted in significant reductions in yield, although the shapes of the response curves were different. The variation in the curves for the 2 yr may be attributable to differences in precipitation and subsequent effects on the growth of the plants and their sensitivity to O₃. Sulfur dioxide, either alone or in combination with O₃, had no effect on yield even after multiple intermittent exposures at 0.363 ppm.