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THE EFFECTS OF OXIDANT AIR POLLUTANTS ON SOYBEANS, SNAP BEANS AND POTATOES
Citation:
Heggestad, H., R. Howell, AND J. Bennett. THE EFFECTS OF OXIDANT AIR POLLUTANTS ON SOYBEANS, SNAP BEANS AND POTATOES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/3-77/128.
Description:
During the past 5 years the impact of photochemical oxidants on soybeans and snap beans in Maryland and on potatoes in Virginia and Delaware was assessed with open-top chambers. The mean yields of four selected soybean varieties grown in open-top chambers with carbon-filtered air and in plots without chambers were about the same. However, the mean yields of beans grown in chambers with nonfiltered air were significantly lower (about 20%). In experiments with snap beans at Beltsville, Maryland from 1972-1974, the bean yield from one of three varieties tested was decreased 14% by oxidants, whereas the other two varieties did not show a yield decrease. At Painter, Virginia, in 1975, three of four potato varieties showed a significant yield reduction (average 30%) in chambers with nonfiltered air as compared with filtered air.