Use of Carbon Isotopes to Estimate Incorporation of Added CO(2) by Greenhouse-Grown Tomato Plants.
A method is presented which uses the (13)C and (14)C isotope abundance in CO(2)-enriched greenhouse crops to determine the percentage of plant organic carbon derived from artificially added CO(2). In a greenhouse experiment with CO(2) concentrations elevated to 1100 +/- 100 microliters per liter during part of the daylight hours and maintained at normal atmospheric concentrations (340 microliters per liter) during the rest of the time, it was shown by (14)C analysis that between 41% and 42% of the carbon in tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum var 4884) came from the artificially added CO(2). Similar results were obtained from (13)C analyses when the CO(2) pressure-dependent isotope separation was taken into account.
Enoch
H Z
HZ
Department of Agricultural Meteorology, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, 50250 Bet Dagan, Israel.
Carmi
I
I
Rounick
J S
JS
Magaritz
M
M