Ozone-induced damage to the wheat crop at a high-altitude site in western India

Ozone-induced damage to the wheat crop at a high-altitude site in western India | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Ozone-induced damage to the wheat crop at a high-altitude site in western India Sompriti Deb Roy, Vrinda Anand, Bandarusatya Murthy This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8943752/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Uncertainty about ozone damage to crops in India is a matter of debate. In this study, the ozone-imparted crop loss and economic cost loss for an important staple crop (wheat) have been calculated for the first time at a high-altitude site (Mahabaleshwar, 17°55'30"N, 73°39'36"E, 1353m asl) located in the state of Maharashtra (India) for the years 2018 and 2019. The MAPAN (Modeling Air Pollution and Networking) database has been used for this purpose. The exposure indices of ozone (AOT40 and W126) and the concentration-oriented metrics (M7) show reasonably high values during the non-monsoon period, especially in the winter months. The high levels of ozone are mainly contributed to by the horizontal and vertical transport of ozone, and the effect of local photochemical production is not significant on the ozone mixing ratios. The relative yield loss and production loss for the wheat crop, which grows in the wintertime, are as high as 22–79% and 21.5–81.9%, respectively. The associated annual economic loss is around $ 1.04 million during this period. A reliable and effective mitigation strategy needs to be developed to protect the vegetation and ecology of areas with high elevation from significant ozone damage. Ozone pollution Transport High-elevation site Crop damages Exposure indices Economic loss Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8943752","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":600222381,"identity":"ac76828a-c602-401a-b83a-fc6d18763b25","order_by":0,"name":"Sompriti Deb Roy","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA4UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYNACAwYefnQRQloMeCTbIEwJIrUAVRgcQ9GCB8i3d6c9rij4I2N8v/fh48IcmzoG6cOHPzAU3MFt/Jmz2w3PAB1mdozd2HjmtjQJBr40IGHwDLcWidxtkg1gLWxs0rzbDksw8PCYAcUP43bYDKgW4zawlv9ALfyfP+DTwnADqsWADazlAMgWYBjg0QL2S4OBMY/EsTRmoF+SJdt42MwkEvA5rL1328OGP3L2/M3HGB8XbrPj5+dhfvzhwx88DmNgYIOzmOHcBHwaMLSMglEwCkbBKEAHAB0nRSUXTyhJAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM)","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sompriti","middleName":"Deb","lastName":"Roy","suffix":""},{"id":600222382,"identity":"0e1f369b-b4ba-4029-9774-0bf7ee3ba8f1","order_by":1,"name":"Vrinda Anand","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Vrinda","middleName":"","lastName":"Anand","suffix":""},{"id":600222383,"identity":"36969b48-7543-4a9d-9ca9-746fe85702ab","order_by":2,"name":"Bandarusatya Murthy","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Bandarusatya","middleName":"","lastName":"Murthy","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-23 06:53:15","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8943752/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8943752/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":104404644,"identity":"8508de93-f35d-468c-aca7-5e34db284176","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-11 12:20:43","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":619463,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8943752/v1_covered_4a519773-74bd-45ea-9ece-e8f57c88a95c.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Ozone-induced damage to the wheat crop at a high-altitude site in western India","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Ozone pollution, Transport, High-elevation site, Crop damages, Exposure indices, Economic loss","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8943752/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8943752/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eUncertainty about ozone damage to crops in India is a matter of debate. In this study, the ozone-imparted crop loss and economic cost loss for an important staple crop (wheat) have been calculated for the first time at a high-altitude site (Mahabaleshwar, 17\u0026deg;55'30\"N, 73\u0026deg;39'36\"E, 1353m asl) located in the state of Maharashtra (India) for the years 2018 and 2019. The MAPAN (Modeling Air Pollution and Networking) database has been used for this purpose. The exposure indices of ozone (AOT40 and W126) and the concentration-oriented metrics (M7) show reasonably high values during the non-monsoon period, especially in the winter months. The high levels of ozone are mainly contributed to by the horizontal and vertical transport of ozone, and the effect of local photochemical production is not significant on the ozone mixing ratios. The relative yield loss and production loss for the wheat crop, which grows in the wintertime, are as high as 22\u0026ndash;79% and 21.5\u0026ndash;81.9%, respectively. The associated annual economic loss is around \u003cspan\u003e$\u003c/span\u003e1.04\u0026nbsp;million during this period. A reliable and effective mitigation strategy needs to be developed to protect the vegetation and ecology of areas with high elevation from significant ozone damage.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Ozone-induced damage to the wheat crop at a high-altitude site in western India","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-04 19:33:44","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8943752/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"75b14813-02f9-4cc1-a96d-be38f87bfb90","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 4th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-08T15:54:56+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-04 19:33:44","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8943752","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8943752","identity":"rs-8943752","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}