Warming Has Limited Effects on Carbon-Use Efficiency of Wheat and Upland Rice Plants-Evidence From a (13)CO(2) Labelling Study.

Warming of +4°C has limited impact on the carbon-use efficiency of wheat and rice during the vegetative stage, with CUE remaining around 0.55 to 0.59.

• Why it matters: Understanding how climate warming affects plant carbon-use efficiency is crucial for accurate carbon cycle modeling, yet direct measurements are challenging, leading to uncertainties.
• What they did: Using a (13)CO(2) labelling approach in growth chambers, researchers measured photosynthetic carbon gain, carbon allocation, and turnover in wheat and rice under warming conditions.
• The result: Plant-level CUE showed resilience to warming due to physiological acclimation, maintaining stable carbon allocation patterns and turnover, which supports the robustness of crop carbon efficiency under moderate climate change.