Carbon Dioxide Exchange in Response to Change of Environment and to Defoliation in a Tobacco Crop

Abstract

Rates of carbon dioxide exchange of field-grown tobacco crops at early flowering and maturity were measured using a pair of large closed-system field chambers. Photosynthetic responses to irradiance and temperature were investigated on both occasions. Rate of dark respiration and its response to temperature were measured during the night.

Defoliation treatments were employed to disrupt the correlation between leaf age and light environment in the canopy. In these experiments, the short-term photosynthetic response to irradiance was determined for crops that were progressively defoliated upwards or downwards. Long- term effects of varying intensities of downward defoliation were also investigated.

Maximum photosynthetic rates of 3.7 g CO₂ m^-2 h^-1 were achieved at early flowering. These had fallen to 1.9 g CO₂ m^-2 h^-1at maturity. Maximum rates occurred at an irradiance of approximately 700 W m^-2. Short-term shifts in temperature in the range 10-32°C had little effect during the day, but dark respiration was strongly dependent on temperature. Defoliation experiments demonstrated that lower leaves retained a significant potential for photosynthesis but their contri- bution to the total exchange of CO₂ of mature crops was only small. This was attributed in part to the poorer light regime in the lower canopy.

Results are discussed in the context of the development of yield and quality in flue-cured tobacco.