Examining ozone susceptibility in the genus Musa (bananas)

Tropospheric ozone (O3) is a global air pollutant that adversely affects plant growth and productivity. While the impacts of O3 have previously been examined for some tropical commodity crops, no information is available for the pantropical crop, banana (Musa spp.). In this study, we exposed Australia’s major banana cultivar, Williams, to a range of [O3] in open-top chambers. In addition, we examined 46 diverse Musa lines growing in a common garden for variation in traits that are hypothesized to shape responses to O3: leaf mass per area, intrinsic water-use-efficiency, and total antioxidant capacity. Banana cv. Williams showed substantial susceptibility to O3. Combined our results from open-top chambers and common garden conditions suggest a substantial risk of O3 to banana production and food security throughout the tropics., The ozone (O3) susceptibility of cv. Williams was tested in nine independently controlled and monitored open-top chambers (OTC) built at the UK University of Exeter’s TropOz Research facility located at James Cook University’s Environmental Research Complex (ERC) on the Nguma-bada campus in far-north Queensland, Australia (www.tropoz.org). 
The plants (27 cv. Williams) were grown under O3 fumigation in OTCs for about three months. At the end of the O3 fumigation period and when the plants were on average 97 cm in height, two leaves were collected from every plant, specifically the third most recently expanded and therefore newly mature leaf (new leaf) and the eighth-most recently expanded (old leaf) both new and old leaves having fully developed under O3 fumigation. From each leaf, two mid-lamina leaf sections ~300 cm2 from both sides of the midrib were taken and measured for total fresh weight. After weighing, and scanning to determine area, one section was, wrapped in tinfoil, snap-f..., , # Examining ozone susceptibility in the genus Musa (bananas)

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fbg79cp26](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fbg79cp26)

The ozone (O3) susceptibility of cv. Williams was tested in nine independently controlled and monitored open top chambers (OTC) built at the UK University of Exeter’s TropOz Research facility located at James Cook University’s Environmental Research Complex (ERC) on the Nguma-bada campus in far-north Queensland, Australia ([www.tropoz.org](https://tropoz.org/)).

The plants (27 cv. Williams) were grown under O3 fumigation in OTCs for about three months. At the end of the O3 fumigation period, two leaves were collected from every plant, specifically the third most recently expanded and therefore newly mature leaf (new leaf) and the eighth-most recently expanded (old leaf) both new and old leaves having fully developed under O3 fumigation from every plant for the determination of leaf functional traits such as leaf mass per area (LMA), intrinsic...