New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science abstracts
Seasonal and daily changes in carbon acquisition of kiwifruit leaves with
and without axillary fruit
DENNIS H. GREER
Palmerston North Research Centre
The Horticulture and Food Research
Institute of New Zealand Ltd
Private Bag 11 030
Palmerston North, New Zealand
email: Dgreer@hort.cri.nz
Abstract Potted kiwifruit (
Actinidia deliciosa (A.
Chev.) C.F. Liang et A.R. Ferguson) plants were transferred to a controlled
environment at monthly intervals throughout the growing season (October-May).
Daily time-courses of net photosynthesis and respiration were measured on
vegetative and fruit-subtending leaves that emerged in October, November,
December, and February. Net carbon acquisition of each leaf was determined from
daily and seasonal changes in gas exchange. Maximal rates of photosynthesis
were coincident with or shortly after leaves became fully expanded and
photosynthetic development was dependent on the environmental history of
leaves. Photosynthesis declined during the day by 10-40% in vegetative leaves
and 20-50% in leaves subtending fruit. Carbon acquisition of leaves subtending
fruit was 60% lower than vegetative leaves. Results imply that competition
between fruit and vegetative sinks has a regulatory role on carbon acquisition
of leaves but further elucidation to understand how this affects variation in
fruit size is required.
Keywords Actinidia deliciosa; kiwifruit; carbon gain;
daily and seasonal photosynthesis; fruiting leaves; photosynthetic
down-regulation
H98019
Received 22 April 1998; accepted 13 October 1998
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (681K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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