Impacts of abiotic stresses on cotton physiology and vigor under current and future CO2 levels

doi:10.1016/j.jia.2025.04.012

Journal of Integrative Agriculture

2026, Vol. 25

Issue (1): 105-117 DOI: 10.1016/j.jia.2025.04.012

Crop Science

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Impacts of abiotic stresses on cotton physiology and vigor under current and future CO₂ levels

Mohan K. Bista¹, Purushothaman Ramamoorthy²,Ranadheer Reddy Vennam¹, Sadikshya Poudel¹,K. Raja Reddy¹, Raju Bheemanahalli^1#

¹Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Mississippi State University, MS 39762, USA

²Geosystems Research Institute, Mississippi State University, MS 39762, USA

Highlights

● Cotton cultivars are sensitive to abiotic stress during the vegetative stage.

● Stresses and CO₂ levels significantly influence the expression of physiology and phenotypic traits.

● Elevated CO₂ partially mitigated stress-induced damage to biomass under heat, salt, and drought.

Abstract
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Abstract

Elevated CO₂ (eCO₂) may mitigate stress-induced damage to cotton (Gossypium spp.) growth and development. However, understanding the early-stage responses of cotton to multiple abiotic stressors at eCO₂levels has been limited. This study quantified the impacts of chilling (CS, 22/14°C, day/night temperature), heat (HS, 38/30°C), drought (DS, 50% irrigation of the control), and salt (SS, 8 dS m^–1) stresses on pigments, physiology, growth, and development of 14 upland cotton cultivars under ambient CO₂ (aCO₂, 420 ppm; current) and eCO₂ (700 ppm; future) levels during the vegetative stage. The eCO₂ partially negated the effects of all stresses by improving one or more of the pigments, physiological, growth, and development traits, except CS. For instance, HS at aCO₂ significantly increased stomatal conductance by 36% compared with non-stressed plants at aCO₂. However, HS at eCO₂ significantly decreased stomatal conductance by 18% compared with HS at aCO₂. The first squaring was delayed by one day under SS at aCO₂ but two days earlier under SS at eCO₂ than non-stressed plants at aCO₂. Root and shoot dry mass and the total leaf area were significantly higher under all stresses, except for CS, at the eCO₂ compared with similar stresses at the aCO₂. Most growth and development traits, including plant height, leaf area, and shoot dry mass, displayed a mirroring response pattern between aCO₂ and eCO₂under all environments except CS. Cultivars exhibited significant interaction with stressed environments. Further, results revealed differential sensitivity and adaptation potential of cultivars to stress environments at varying CO₂ levels. This study highlights the need to consider eCO₂ in designing breeding programs to develop stress-tolerant varieties for future cotton-growing environments.

Keywords: abiotic stress eCO₂ cotton vegetative vigor multi-stress tolerance

Received: 26 December 2024 Accepted: 03 March 2025 Online: 04 April 2025

Fund:

This study was supported by the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, Special Research Initiative (MAFES-SRI), USA, the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) (58-6064-3-007), and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USA (MIS-430030).

About author: #Correspondence Raju Bheemanahalli, E-mail: rajubr@pss.msstate.edu

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Mohan K. Bista, Purushothaman Ramamoorthy, Ranadheer Reddy Vennam, Sadikshya Poudel, K. Raja Reddy, Raju Bheemanahalli. 2026. Impacts of abiotic stresses on cotton physiology and vigor under current and future CO₂ levels. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 25(1): 105-117.

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