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Ozone pollution threatens the production of major staple crops in East Asia

Nature Food volume 3, pages 47–56 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

East Asia is a hotspot of surface ozone (O3) pollution, which hinders crop growth and reduces yields. Here, we assess the relative yield loss in rice, wheat and maize due to O3 by combining O3 elevation experiments across Asia and air monitoring at about 3,000 locations in China, Japan and Korea. China shows the highest relative yield loss at 33%, 23% and 9% for wheat, rice and maize, respectively. The relative yield loss is much greater in hybrid than inbred rice, being close to that for wheat. Total O3-induced annual loss of crop production is estimated at US$63 billion. The large impact of O3 on crop production urges us to take mitigation action for O3 emission control and adaptive agronomic measures against the rising surface O3 levels across East Asia.

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Fig. 1: Current ozone pollution in East Asia as shown by the six-month (from 1 April to 30 September) AOT40.
Fig. 2: O3-enrichment experiments for rice, wheat and maize conducted in Asia.
Fig. 3: EDU experiments for rice, wheat and maize conducted in Asia.
Fig. 4: RYLs for different crops calculated from Asian-specific exposure–RY relationships and the AOT40 values across China, Japan and South Korea.

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The data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information and Supplementary Data. Source data are provided with this paper.

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The custom algorithm used for this study are available in the Methods.

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Acknowledgements

This study received funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 42130714 and M-0105) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) for Senior Scientists (grant no. 2018VCA0026; 2016VBA057). E.P. acknowledges the LIFE15 project MOTTLES and V.C. project ELEMENTAL (CGL 2017-83538-C3-3-R, MINECO-FEDER).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Zhaozhong Feng, Yansen Xu, Kazuhiko Kobayashi.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Agrometeorology of Jiangsu Province, School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, China

    Zhaozhong Feng, Yansen Xu, Lulu Dai, Evgenios Agathokleous & Arideep Mukherjee

  2. Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Kazuhiko Kobayashi

  3. Rural Energy and Environment Agency, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing, China

    Lulu Dai

  4. State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Tianyi Zhang

  5. Fundación CEAM, Paterna, Spain

    Vicent Calatayud

  6. Institute of Research on Terrestrial Ecosystems, National Research Council, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

    Elena Paoletti

  7. Department of Botany, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India

    Arideep Mukherjee & Madhoolika Agrawal

  8. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

    Rokjin J. Park & Yujin J. Oak

  9. School of Environmental Science & Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, China

    Xu Yue

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Contributions

Z.F., E.P. and X.Y. initially designed the study. Z.F. had a leading role, served as the hub of communication among the authors and supervised the production of the manuscript. Y.X. checked the O3 observation data and calculated AOT40. L.D. collected the O3 dose and yield of crops and EDU studies. L.D. and K.K. estimated the O3 dose–response functions and made Figs. 2 and 3. T.Z. estimated the regional yield loss and made Figs. 1 and 4. R.P. and Y.O. provided the O3 data in South Korea. Z.F., E.A., V.C., X.Y. and K.K. drafted the paper. A.M., E.P. and all other coauthors reviewed the integrated manuscript, substantially contributed intellectual inputs and approved the final version for publication.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Zhaozhong Feng, Kazuhiko Kobayashi or Xu Yue.

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Peer review information Nature Food thanks Nadine Unger, Steven Davis and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–8, Tables 1–7, references and text.

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Supplementary Data

Raw data of the crop yields in ozone exposure experiments conducted in Asia.

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Source Data Fig. 1

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 2

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 3

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 4

Statistical source data.

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Feng, Z., Xu, Y., Kobayashi, K. et al. Ozone pollution threatens the production of major staple crops in East Asia. Nat Food 3, 47–56 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00422-6

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