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Barley [hearts] CO2

11 Sep 2024 | Science Notes

From the CO2Science Archive: Percent Dry Weight (Biomass) Increases in Hordeum vulgare L. [Barley] for 300, 600 and 900 ppm Increases in the Air’s CO2 Concentration. Whether your taste runs to beer or malt whiskey, or for that matter to Ovaltine (yuck) or barley soup (yum), the vitality of the world’s barley crops should concern you greatly. The good news is that there is more CO2 in the air and barley responds very well to it. Between 1994 and 2018 there were 84 experiments that showed a 300-parts-per-million (ppm) increase in CO2 yields an average 40.3% increase in barley biomass. Four studies showed a 600-ppm increase yields a 50.8% boost and 3 studies showed 900 ppm yields a 38% boost. The latter seems to be going in the wrong direction but with only three studies its uncertainties were also a lot higher. What is not uncertain though is that our beloved barley is helped, not hurt, but the rise in the atmospheric CO2 concentration.

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