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Influence of Light and Temperature on Photosynthesis and Transpiration in Some C 3 and C 4 Vegetable Plants from Kenya
Author(s) -
IMBAMBA S. K.,
TIESZEN LARRY L.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
physiologia plantarum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.351
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1399-3054
pISSN - 0031-9317
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-3054.1977.tb01890.x
Subject(s) - transpiration , photosynthesis , biology , botany , light intensity , physics , optics
Potted vegetable plants of Amaranthus lividus, Gynandropsis gynandra and Crotalaria brevidens were grown outside under normal tropical conditions and rate of photosynthesis and transpiration were determined simultaneously in attached leaves under a range of leaf temperatures and irradiances. Photosynthetic rates were consistently higher in G. gynandra than in A. lividus and C. brevidens . However, in C. brevidens and G. gynandra the leaf resistances were lower and transpiration rates were higher than those in A. lividus . The results on optimum temperature requirements for maximum rates of CO 2 fixation, coupled with data on CO 2 compensation points and leaf anatomy provided clear evidence that G. gynandra and A. lividus are C 4 species, while C. brevidens is a C 3 species. The differential effects of light intensity and temperature on stomata and mesophyll resistances in C 3 and C 4 species are discussed in relation to rates of photosynthesis and transpiration.