Chlorophyll fluorescence, photochemical reflective index and normalized difference vegetative index during plant senescence.
The relationship between the Photochemical Reflectance Index (PRI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and chlorophyll fluorescence along senescence was investigated in this work. Reflectance and radiance measurements were performed at canopy level in grass species presenting different photosynthetic metabolism: Avena sativa (C3) and Setaria italica (C4), at different stages of the natural senescence process. Sun induced-chlorophyll fluorescence at 760nm (SIF760) and the apparent fluorescence yield (SIF760/a, with a=irradiance at time of measurement) were extracted from the radiance spectra of canopies using the Fraunhofer Line Discrimination-method. The photosynthetic parameters derived from Kautsky kinetics and pigment content were also calculated at leaf level. Whilst stand level NDVI patterns were related to changes in the structure of canopies and not in pigment content, stand level PRI patterns suggested changes both in terms of canopy and of pigment content in leaves. Both SIF760/a and ΦPSIIdecreased progressively along senescence in both species. A strong increment in NPQ was evident in A. sativa while in S. italica NPQ values were lower. Our most important finding was that two chlorophyll fluorescence signals, ΦPSIIand SIF760/a, correlated with the canopy PRI values in the two grasses assessed, even when tissues at different ontogenic stages were present. Even though significant changes occurred in the Total Chlr/Car ratio along senescence in both studied species, significant correlations between PRI and chlorophyll fluorescence signals might indicate the usefulness of this reflectance index as a proxy of photosynthetic RUE, at least under the conditions of this study. The relationships between stand level PRI and the fluorescence estimators (ΦPSIIand SIF760/a) were positive in both cases. Therefore, an increase in PRI values as in the fluorescence parameters would indicate higher RUE.
IFEVA, Universidad de Buenos Aires, CONICET, Facultad de Agronomía, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Área de Educación Agropecuaria, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: gcordon@agro.uba.ar.
Gabriela
G
Cordon
INQUIMAE, Universidad de Buenos Aires, CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Dpto. de Química Inorgánica, Analítica y Química Física, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
M Gabriela
MG
Lagorio
IFEVA, Universidad de Buenos Aires, CONICET, Facultad de Agronomía, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Dpto. de Métodos Cuantitativos y Sistemas de Información, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; IECA, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
José M
JM
Paruelo
D018554:Avena / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000378:metabolism; D005453:Fluorescence; D055668:Photochemical Processes; D010788:Photosynthesis; D010860:Pigments, Biological; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D032983:Setaria Plant / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D013997:Time Factors
D010860:Pigments, Biological; D002734:Chlorophyll
Normalized difference vegetation index; Photochemical reflectance index; Photosynthetic parameters; Radiation use efficiency; Senescence; Sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence