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EXPERIMENTAL AIR EXCLUSION SYSTEM FOR FIELD STUDIES OF SO2 EFFECTS ON CROP PRODUCTIVITY
Citation:
Jones, H., N. Lacasse, W. Liggett, AND F. Weatherford. EXPERIMENTAL AIR EXCLUSION SYSTEM FOR FIELD STUDIES OF SO2 EFFECTS ON CROP PRODUCTIVITY. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/7-77/122 (NTIS PB276985), 1977.
Description:
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) characterized and quantified relationships among sulfur dioxide (SO2) exposure, symptomatology of injury, and yield of soybean crops, which are sensitive to SO2 and economically important to the southeastern United States. Characterization included analysis of soil fertility, pH, soil depth, slope, and content of organic matter. Regression analysis was used to identify site factors that might affect yield and mask the effects of SO2 exposure; results of the analyses were used to control or eliminate those factors. TVA designed, constructed, and tested an air-exclusion system that permits the comparison of plants exposed to SO2 with plants at the same site that were protected from SO2 exposure. Tests showed the system to be as much as 85 percent efficient in excluding or reducing SO2 concentrations to subthreshold levels during exposure.