Growth and biomass partitioning in mungbean with elevated carbon dioxide, phosphorus levels and cyanobacteria inoculation.

Mungbean is an important leguminous crop providing protein for the rural and urban poor in South and Southeast Asia. An experiment was conducted in free air carbon dioxide enrichment facility (FACE) ring to study the impact of increased CO₂ level on growth and biomass partitioning in mungbean crop. The crop was grown under ambient (400 µmol mol^-1) and elevated CO₂ concentration (550 µmol mol^-1) with 5 doses of P with and without cyanobacterial inoculation. Elevated CO₂ significantly increased biomass accumulation in mungbean crop which was further increased by P and cyanobacteria application. Leaf biomass increased by 34.4% at increased CO₂ level. Maximum biomass allocation to seeds was observed with P dose of 16 mg kg^-1 soil in both ambient and elevated CO₂ conditions. Allocation was more in high CO₂ treatment. The study concludes that mungbean crop grown under elevated CO₂ condition accumulates more biomass which gets further improved by application of P nutrient and cyanobacteria inoculation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]