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

Impact of light on leaf initiation: a matter of photosynthate availability in the apical bud?

Andreas Savvides A B C , Nikolaos Ntagkas A , Wim van Ieperen A , Janneke A. Dieleman B and Leo F. M. Marcelis A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Horticultural Supply Chains, Wageningen University, PO Box 630, 6700AP Wageningen, The Netherlands.

B Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture, PO Box 644, 6700AP Wageningen, The Netherlands.

C Corresponding author. Email: andreas.savvides@wur.nl

Functional Plant Biology 41(5) 547-556 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP13217
Submitted: 24 July 2013  Accepted: 16 December 2013   Published: 29 January 2014

Abstract

Radiation substantially affects leaf initiation rate (LIR), a key variable for plant growth, by influencing the heat budget and therefore the temperature of the shoot apical meristem. The photosynthetically active component of solar radiation (photosynthetic photon flux density; PPFD) is critical for plant growth and when at shade to moderate levels may also influence LIR via limited photosynthate availability. Cucumber and tomato plants were subjected to different PPFDs (2.5–13.2 mol m–2 day–1) and then LIR, carbohydrate content and diel net CO2 uptake of the apical bud were quantified. LIR showed saturating response to increasing PPFD in both species. In this PPFD range, LIR was reduced by 20% in cucumber and by 40% in tomato plants. Carbohydrate content and dark respiration were substantially reduced at low PPFD. LIR may be considered as an adaptive trait of plants to low light levels, which is likely to be determined by the local photosynthate availability. In tomato and cucumber plants, LIR can be markedly reduced at low PPFD in plant production systems at high latitudes, suggesting that models solely based on thermal time may not precisely predict LIR at low PPFD.

Additional keywords: cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), leaf appearance, leaf unfolding, light intensity, shoot apical meristem, starch, sugars, tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.).


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