Biological Systems Engineering
Efficiency of chlorophyll in gross primary productivity: A proof of concept and application in crops
Date of this Version
6-2016
Citation
Published in Journal of Plant Physiology 201 (2016) 101–110. doi:10.1016/j.jplph.2016.05.019
Abstract
One of the main factors affecting vegetation productivity is absorbed light, which is largely governed by chlorophyll. In this paper, we introduce the concept of chlorophyll efficiency, representing the amount of gross primary production per unit of canopy chlorophyll content (Chl) and incident PAR. We analyzed chlorophyll efficiency in two contrasting crops (soybean and maize). Given that they have different photosynthetic pathways (C3 vs. C4), leaf structures (dicot vs. monocot) and canopy architectures (a heliotrophic leaf angle distribution vs. a spherical leaf angle distribution), they cover a large spectrum of biophysical conditions. Our results show that chlorophyll efficiency in primary productivity is highly variable and responds to various physiological and phenological conditions, and water availability. Since Chl is accessible through non-destructive, remotely sensed techniques, the use of chlorophyll efficiency for modeling and monitoring plant optimization patterns is practical at different scales (e.g., leaf, canopy) and under widely-varying environmental conditions. Through this analysis, we directly related a functional characteristic, gross primary production with a structural characteristic, canopy chlorophyll content. Understanding the efficiency of the structural characteristic is of great interest as it allows explaining functional components of the plant system.
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Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons, Environmental Engineering Commons, Other Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons
Comments
Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. Used by permission.