Refixation of respiratory CO2in the ears of C3cereals

Autor: R. Harold Brown, Jordi Bort, José Luis Araus
Rok vydání: 1996
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Experimental Botany. 47:1567-1575
ISSN: 1460-2431
0022-0957
DOI: 10.1093/jxb/47.10.1567
Popis: The spatial arrangement of tissues within the ears of cereals, and gas exchange measurements on intact ears of barley and durum wheat suggest that respiratory CO 2 , associated with grain-filling processes, may be refixed close to its site of evolution. Apparent refixation of respiratory CO 2 in intact ears was compared with that in flag leaves, by feeding both organs with 14 C-labelled sucrose and trapping 14 CO 2 released by respiration. Apparent refixation in the ears was twice that measured in flag leaf blades of durum wheat genotype Durelle. In ears, the capacity of refixation of respiratory CO 2 at 210 mmol mol -1 O 2 ranged from 55% in barley genotype Roxana to 75% in barley genotype Hatif, and 60% in durum wheat genotype Bidi 17. A low O 2 concentration increased refixation of respiratory CO 2 by up to 90%, 92% and 82%, respectively. The occurrence of CO 2 refixation in the field, in a set of 12 barley genotypes grown under irrigated and rainfed Mediterranean field conditions, was consistent with observed carbon isotope ratios (δ 13 C) of current assimilates of the ear bracts, and δ 13 C of mature kernels whose ears had been darkened from 1 week after anthesis to maturity. Moreover, genotypic differences in δ 13 C and its divergence in light compared to darkened ears were observed, both under irrigated and under rainfed conditions. If these differences reflect differences in refixation and are genotypically stable, the capacity of refixation by ears of respiratory CO 2 could then be considered in breeding programmes.
Databáze: OpenAIRE