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Functional Plant Biology Functional Plant Biology Society
Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Effects of growth irradiance on photosynthesis and photorespiration of Phoebe bournei leaves

Xinglin Tang https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5191-8848 A B D * , Guangzheng Liu A , Jiang Jiang B , Changju Lei A , Yunxing Zhang C , Liyan Wang A and Xinliang Liu A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Research Institute of Forest Ecology and Environment, Jiangxi Academy of Forestry, 1629-Fenglin West Street, Qingshan Lake District, Nanchang, 330032, China.

B College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, 159-Longpan Road, Xuanwu District, Nanjing, 210037, China.

C School of Architectural and Artistic Design, Henan Polytechnic University, 2001-Century Road, Jiaozuo, 454003, China.

D Corresponding author. Email: t787953914@163.com

Functional Plant Biology 47(12) 1053-1061 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP20062
Submitted: 6 March 2020  Accepted: 30 May 2020   Published: 30 June 2020

Abstract

Light intensity is a major environmental factor affecting the growth and survival of trees in a forest. The effect of light reduction on photosynthesis and photorespiration of an evergreen broad-leaved tree, Phoebe bournei (Hemsley) Yang was examined with three levels of full light, 50.5% light, and 21.8% light. The results showed that shading led to significant increase in plant height and crown diameter. Light-saturated leaf photosynthetic rate (Amax), maximal carboxylation activity (Vcmax), maximum electron transfer rate (Jmax), stomatal conductance (gs), mesophyll conductance (gm) and chloroplast CO2 concentration (Cc) significantly increased in response to shade. Photorespiratory CO2 release rate (PR) was higher in plants grown under shade conditions than under full light. The relative limitations of gm (lm) was higher than the relative limitations of gs (ls) and the relative limitations of biochemical factors (lb) in leaves of P. bournei grown under full light, whereas lm was lower than ls and lb under shade. Our results suggest that increase of photosynthesis in P. bournei leaves grown under shade is associated with enhanced CO2 diffusion and biochemistry. And we propose that enhancement of the photorespiratory is essential for shade leaves to improve photosynthesis.

Additional keywords: CO2 diffusion, gas exchange, light intensity, photorespiratory, photosynthetic limitations.


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