Effect of CO₂ Enrichment on Growth and Nutritional Quality of Berseem

A experiment was conducted to study the effect of elevated levels of atmospheric CO₂ on growth and protein content in barseem. For this purpose barseem crop was grown in ambient and CO₂ enriched (600 µl L⁻¹) conditions in open top chamber. Elevated level of CO₂ caused increased leaf growth both in terms of area and dry mass. It also increased stem length and total biomass This increase in growth was apparently due to increase in photosynthesis. The increase in photosynthesis although increased total carbon gain, declined the protein content in the leaf which may alter the nutritional quality of the fodder.