A Comparison of Potential Photosynthesis, Productivity and Yield of Plant Species with Differing Photosynthetic Metabolism

Abstract

Maximum recorded values of various parameters for the rate of photosynthetic CO₂, fixation, from the biochemical level through the leaf level to crop growth rate, suggests that for two contrasting photosynthetic groups (C₃ and C₄ species) the large potential advantage of the C₄ mechanism at the biochemical level is progressively attenuated in moving from the microscopic to the macroscopic parameters until, at the level of crop growth rate, there is no apparent difference between best examples of the two groups when grown in their own preferred natural environments.