title: Photosynthetic characteristics of the subtending leaf of cotton boll at different fruiting branch nodes and their relationships with lint yield and fiber quality.
abstract: To investigate photosynthetic characteristics of the subtending leaf at the 2-3rd and 10-11th fruiting branch (FBN, FB2-3, and FB10-11), and their relationship with cotton yield and quality, field experiments were conducted using two cotton cultivars, Kemian 1 and Sumian 15. The results showed that with FBN increasing, chlorophyll (Chl) components, Pn and non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) in the subtending leaf significantly declined, while soluble sugar, amino acid and their ratio (C SS/C AA) as well as F v/F m increased. These results indicated that (1) non-radiative dissipation of excess light energy at FB2-3 was reduced to improve solar energy utilization efficiency to compensate for lower Pn, (2) higher NPQ at FB10-11 played a role in leaf photo-damage avoidance, (3) boll weight was related to the C SS/C AA ratio rather than carbohydrates content alone, (4) with FBN increasing, lint biomass and lint/seed ratio increased significantly, but lint yield decreased due to lower relative amount of bolls, and (5) the decreases in Pn, sucrose content and C SS /C AA in the subtending leaf at FB2-3 resulted in lower boll weight and fiber strength.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology in Southern China, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University Nanjing, China ; State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Institute of Cotton Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Anyang, China.
authors.forename: Jingran
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology in Southern China, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Yali
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology in Southern China, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Fengjuan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology in Southern China, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Ji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology in Southern China, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Yina
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology in Southern China, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Youhua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology in Southern China, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Binglin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology in Southern China, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University Nanjing, China ; State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Institute of Cotton Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Anyang, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology in Southern China, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Zhiguo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhou
keywords: chlorophyll; cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.); fruiting branch nodes; photosynthesis; subtending leaf of cotton boll; yield and quality