Impact of elevated air temperature and drought on pollen characteristics of major agricultural grass species

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 16; no. 3; p. e0248759
• Main Authors: Jung, Stephan, Estrella, Nicole, Pfaffl, Michael W., Hartmann, Stephan, Ewald, Franziska, Menzel, Annette
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 26.03.2021; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Agriculture; Air; Air temperature; Allergenicity; Allergens; Allergens - analysis; Allergies; Animal physiology; Asthma; Atmospheric temperature; Biology and Life Sciences; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide atmospheric concentrations; Carbon dioxide concentration; Climatic conditions; Crop yield; Cultivars; Drought; Droughts; Earth Sciences; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Editing; Environmental aspects; Flowering; Germany; Grasses; Grasslands; Hay fever; High temperature; Immunological tolerance; Immunology; Life sciences; Lolium perenne; Medicine and Health Sciences; Meteorological Concepts; Physiological aspects; Plant breeding; Plant growth; Plant production; Plant Proteins - analysis; Poaceae - anatomy & histology; Poaceae - growth & development; Poaceae - immunology; Pollen; Pollen - immunology; Precipitation; Respiratory diseases; Reviews; Seasons; Species; Statistics, Nonparametric; Stress, Physiological; Temperature; Germany
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248759

Grass pollen allergens are known to be one of the major triggers of hay fever with an increasing number of humans affected by pollen associated health impacts. Climate change characterized by increasing air temperature and more frequent drought periods might affect plant development and pollen characteristics. In this study a one-year (2017) field experiment was conducted in Bavaria, Germany, simulating drought by excluding rain and elevated air temperature by installing a heating system to investigate their effects primarily on the allergenic potential of eight selected cultivars of the two grass species timothy and perennial ryegrass. It could be shown for timothy that especially under drought and heat conditions the allergen content is significantly lower accompanied by a decrease in pollen weight and protein content. In perennial ryegrass the response to drought and heat conditions in terms of allergen content, pollen weight, and protein content was more dependent on the respective cultivar probably due to varying requirements for their growth conditions and tolerance to drought and heat. Results support recommendations which cultivars should be grown preferentially. The optimal choice of grass species and respective cultivars under changing climate conditions should be a major key aspect for the public health sector in the future.