The fundamental cause of down-regulation of photosynthesis at elevated carbon dioxide concentration (EC) is thought to be a slower rate of utilization of saccharides than their stimulated rate of production, but there are few studies directly supporting this idea under field conditions. We hypothesized that within Brassica oleracea, down-regulation would not occur in kohlrabi because it has a large sink for saccharides in an enlarged stem, but would occur in collards, which lack this sink. Field tests were consistent with this hypothesis. In collards, the degree of down-regulation of photosynthesis in plants grown at EC varied depending on the daily integral of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) of the day prior to the measurement of photosynthetic capacity, as did leaf saccharide content. However, EC did not result in lower leaf contents of chlorophyll, soluble protein, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase, or nitrate in collards, nor was there any evidence of a triose phosphate utilization rate limiting photosynthesis. Experiments in controlled environment chambers confirmed that there was a threshold response for the down-regulation of photosynthesis in collards at EC to the PAR of the previous day, with down-regulation only occurring above a minimum daily integral of PAR. Down-regulation of photosynthesis could be induced in plants grown at ambient carbon dioxide by a single night at low temperature or by a single day with high PAR and EC. In the controlled environment study, the degree of down-regulation of photosynthesis was highly correlated with leaf glucose, fructose, and sucrose contents, and less well correlated with starch content. Hence down-regulation of photosynthesis at EC in collards in the field represented feedback inhibition from the accumulation of soluble saccharides and day-to-day variation in its occurrence was predictable from the weather. and J. A. Bunce, R. C. Sicher.
We hypothesized that decreased stomatal conductance (gs) at elevated CO2 might decrease transpiration (E), increase leaf water potential (ΨW), and thereby protect net photosynthesis rate (PN) from heat damage in maize (Zea mays L) seedlings. To separate long-term effects of elevated CO2, plants grew at either ambient CO2 or elevated CO2. During high-temperature treatment (HT) at 45°C for 15 min, leaves were exposed either to ambient CO2 (380 μmol mol-1) or to elevated CO2 (560 μmol mol-1). HT reduced PN by 25 to 38% across four CO2 combinations. However, the gs and E did not differ among all CO2 treatments during HT. After returning the leaf temperature to 35°C within 30 min, gs and E were the same or higher than the initial values. Leaf water potential (ΨW) was slightly lower at ambient CO2, but not at elevated CO2. This study highlighted that elevated CO2 failed in protecting PN from 45°C via decreasing gs and ΨW., M. N. Qu, J. A. Bunce, Z. S. Shi., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Independent short-term effects of photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) of 50-400 µmol m-2 s-1, external CO2 concentration (C a) of 85-850 cm3 m-3, and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) of 0.9-2.2 kPa on net photosynthetic rate (PN), stomatal conductance (gs), leaf internal CO2 concentration (Ci), and transpiration rates (E) were investigated in three cacao genotypes. In all these genotypes, increasing PPFD from 50 to 400 µmol m-2 s-1 increased PN by about 50 %, but further increases in PPFD up to 1 500 µmol m-2 s-1 had no effect on PN. Increasing Ca significantly increased PN and Ci while gs and E decreased more strongly than in most trees that have been studied. In all genotypes, increasing VPD reduced PN, but the slight decrease in gs and the slight increase in Ci with increasing VPD were non-significant. Increasing VPD significantly increased E and this may have caused the reduction in PN. The unusually small response of gs to VPD could limit the ability of cacao to grow where VPD is high. There were no significant differences in gas exchange characteristics (gs, Ci, E) among the three cacao genotypes under any measurement conditions. and F. C. Baligar ... [et al.].
a1_The carbon dioxide concentration in free air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE) systems typically has rapid fluctuations. In our FACE system, power spectral analysis of CO2 concentration measured every second with an open path analyzer indicated peaks in variation with a period of about one minute. I used
open-top chambers to expose cotton and wheat plants to either a constant elevated CO2 concentration of 180 μmol mol-1 above that of outside ambient air, or to the same mean CO2 concentration, but with the CO2 enrichment cycling between about 30 and 330 μmol mol-1 above the concentration of outside ambient air, with a period of one minute. Three short-term replicate plantings of cotton were grown in Beltsville, Maryland with these CO2 concentration treatments imposed for 27-day periods over two summers, and one winter wheat crop was grown from sowing to maturity. In cotton, leaf gas-exchange measurements of the continuously elevated treatment and the fluctuating treatment indicated that the fluctuating CO2 concentration treatment consistently resulted in substantial down-regulation of net photosynthetic rate (PN) and stomatal conductance (gs). Total shoot biomass of the vegetative cotton plants in the fluctuating CO2 concentration treatment averaged 30% less than in the constantly elevated CO2 concentration treatment at 27 days after planting. In winter wheat, leaf gas-exchange measurements also indicated that down-regulation of PN and gs occurred in flag leaves in the fluctuating CO2 concentration treatment, but the effect was not as consistent in other leaves, nor as severe as found in cotton. However, wheat grain yields were 12% less in the fluctuating CO2 concentration treatment compared with the constant elevated CO2 concentration treatment., a2_Comparison with wheat yields in chambers without CO2 addition indicated a nonsignificant increase of 5% for the fluctuating elevated CO2 concentration treatment, and a significant increase of 19% for the constant elevated treatment. The results suggest that treatments with fluctuating elevated CO2 concentrations could underestimate plant growth at projected future atmospheric CO2 concentrations., J. A. Bunce., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The carbon dioxide concentrating system in C4 photosynthesis allows high net photosynthetic rates (PN) at low internal carbon dioxide concentrations (Ci), permitting higher PN relative to stomatal conductance (gs) than in C3 plants. This relation would be reflected in the ratio of Ci to external ambient (Ca) carbon dioxide concentration, which is often given as 0.3 or 0.4 for C4 plants. For a Ca of 360 µmol mol-1 that would mean a Ci about 110-140 µmol mol-1. Our field observations made near midday on three weedy C4 species, Amaranthus retroflexus, Echinochloa crus-galli, and Setaria faberi, and the C4 crop Sorghum bicolor indicated mean values of Ci of 183-212 µ mol mol-1 at Ca = 360 µmol mol-1. Measurements in two other C4 crop species grown with three levels of N fertilizer indicated that while midday values of Ci at high photon flux were higher at limiting N, even at high nitrogen Ci averaged 212 and 196 µmol mol-1 for Amaranthus hypochondriacus and Zea mays, respectively. In these two crops midday Ci decreased with increasing leaf to air water vapor pressure difference. Averaged over all measurement days, the mean Ci across all C4 species was 198 µmol mol-1, for a Ci/Ca ratio of 0.55. Prior measurements on four herbaceous C3 species using the same instrument indicated an average Ci/Ca ratio of 0.69. Hence midday Ci values in C4 species under field conditions may often be considerably higher and more similar to those of C3 species than expected from measurements made on plants in controlled environments. Reducing gs in C4 crops at low water vapor pressure differences could potentially improve their water use efficiency without decreasing PN.