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To assess the effects of tropospheric O3 on rice cultivated in Bangladesh, four Bangladeshi cultivars (BR11, BR14, BR28 and BR29) of rice (Oryza sativa L.) were exposed daily to charcoal-filtered air or O3 at 60 and 100 nl l−1 (10:00–17:00) from 1 July to 28 November 2008. The whole-plant dry mass and grain yield per plant of the four cultivars were significantly reduced by the exposure to O3. The exposure to O3 significantly reduced net photosynthetic rate of the 12th and flag leaves of the four cultivars. The sensitivity to O3 of growth, yield and leaf gas exchange rates was not significantly different among the four cultivars. The present study suggests that the sensitivity to O3 of yield of the four Bangladeshi rice cultivars is greater than that of American rice cultivars and is similar to that of Japanese rice cultivars and that O3 may detrimentally affect rice production in Bangladesh. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To clarify the effects of O3 on crop plants cultivated in Bangladesh, two Bangladeshi wheat cultivars (Sufi and Bijoy) were grown in plastic boxes filled with Andisol and exposed daily to charcoal-filtered air or O3 at 60 and 100 nl l−1 (10:00-17:00) from 13 March to 4 June 2008. The whole-plant dry mass and grain yield per plant of the two cultivars at the final harvest were significantly reduced by the exposure to O3. Although there was no significant effect of O3 on stomatal diffusive conductance to H2O of flag leaf, net photosynthetic rate of the leaf was significantly reduced by the exposure to O3. The sensitivity of growth, yield, yield components and leaf gas exchange rates to O3 was not significantly different between the two cultivars. The results obtained in the present study suggest that ambient levels of O3 may detrimentally affect wheat production in Bangladesh. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]