Photosynthetic Response of Carrots to Varying Irradiances

Abstract

Response to irradiance of leaf net photosynthetic rates (P N) of four carrot cultivars: Cascade, Caro Choice (CC), Oranza, and Red Core Chantenay (RCC) were examined in a controlled environment. Gas exchange measurements were conducted at photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) from 100 to 1 000 μmol m-2 s-1 at 20 °C and 350 μmol (CO2) mol-1(air). The values of P N were fitted to a rectangular hyperbolic nonlinear regression model. P N for all cultivars increased similarly with increasing PAR but Cascade and Oranza generally had higher P N than CC. None of the cultivars reached saturation at 1 000 μmol m-2 s-1. The predicted P N at saturation (P Nmax) for Cascade, CC, Oranza, and RCC were 19.78, 16.40, 19.79, and 18.11 μmol (CO2) m-2 s-1, respectively. The compensation irradiance (I c) occurred at 54 μmol m-2 s-1 for Cascade, 36 μmol m-2 s-1 for CC, 45 μmol m-2 s-1 for Oranza, and 25 μmol m-2 s-1 for RCC. The quantum yield among the cultivars ranged between 0.057-0.033 mol(CO2) mol-1(PAR) and did not differ. Dark respiration varied from 2.66 μmol m-2 s-1 for Cascade to 0.85 μmol m-2 s-1 for RCC. As P N increased with PAR, intercellular CO2 decreased in a non-linear manner. Increasing PAR increased stomatal conductance and transpiration rate to a peak between 600 and 800 μmol m-2 s-1 followed by a steep decline resulting in sharp increases in water use efficiency.