The impact of weather and increased atmospheric CO ₂ from 1892 to 2016 on simulated yields of UK wheat

Abstract

Climate change effects on UK winter wheat grain yield are complex: warmer temperature, negative; greater carbon dioxide (CO ₂) concentration, positive; but other environmental variables and their timing also affect yield. In the absence of long-term experiments where temperature and CO ₂ concentration were manipulated separately, we applied the crop simulation model Sirius with long-term daily meteorological data (1892–2016) for Rothamsted, Hertfordshire, UK (2007–2016 mean growing season temperature 1.03°C warmer than 1892–1991), and CO ₂ concentration over this period, to investigate the separate effects of historic CO ₂ and weather on simulated grain yield in three wheat cultivars of the modern era. We show a slight decline in simulated yield over the period 1892–2016 from the effect of weather (daily temperature, rainfall and sunshine hours) at fixed CO ₂ (294.50 ppm, 1892 reference value), but a maximum 9.4% increase when accounting for increasing atmospheric CO ₂ (from 294.50 to 404.21 ppm), differing slightly among cultivars. Notwithstanding considerable inter-annual variation, the slight yield decline at 294.50 ppm CO ₂ over this 125-year period from the historic weather simulations for Rothamsted agrees with the expected decline from temperature increase alone, but the positive yield trend with actual CO ₂ values does not match the recent stagnation in UK wheat yield.