Effects of atmospheric CO2 concentration enhancement and nitrogen application rate on wheat grain yield and quality

FACE platform was applied to study the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration on wheat grain yield and quality under two nitrogen (N) application rates. Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration and applying N increased the grain yield, spike number, grain number per spike, and biomass significantly, but elevated CO2 concentration had no significant effects on harvest index (HI). Under elevated CO2 concentration, there was a significant decrease in the protein, gliadin, gluteinin, and glutein contents of the grain and the sedimentation value of the flour, and a significant increase in the starch and its components contents of the grain; under N application, an inverse was observed. The dough stability time and the dough viscosity characteristics, such as peak viscosity, final viscosity, and setback value, increased significantly under elevated CO2 concentration and high N application rate. The interaction of atmospheric CO2 concentration and N application rate had significantly positive effects on wheat grain yield and biomass, but less effect on grain quality. Therefore, with elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration in the future, maintaining a higher N application level would benefit wheat grain yield and paste characteristics, and mitigate the decline of grain quality.