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Effects of shading on the photosynthetic characteristics and mesophyll cell ultrastructure of summer maize

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Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to study the effects of shading on the photosynthetic characteristics and mesophyll cell ultrastructure of two summer maize hybrids Denghai605 (DH605) and Zhengdan958 (ZD958). The ambient sunlight treatment was used as control (CK) and shading treatments (40 % of ambient sunlight) were applied at different growth stages from silking (R1) to physiological maturity (R6) (S1), from the sixth leaf stage (V6) to R1 (S2), and from seeding to R6 (S3), respectively. The net photosynthetic rate (P n) was significantly decreased after shading. The greatest reduction of P n was found at S3 treatment, followed by S1 and S2 treatments. P n of S3 was decreased by 59 and 48 % for DH605, and 39 and 43 % for ZD958 at tasseling and milk-ripe stages, respectively, compared to that of CK. Additionally, leaf area index (LAI) and chlorophyll content decreased after shading. In terms of mesophyll cell ultrastructure, chloroplast configuration of mesophyll cells dispersed, and part of chloroplast swelled and became circular. Meanwhile, the major characteristics of chloroplasts showed poorly developed thylakoid structure at the early growth stage, blurry lamellar structure, loose grana, and a large gap between slices and warping granum. Then, plasmolysis occurred in mesophyll cells and the endomembrane system was destroyed, which resulted in the dissolution of cell membrane, karyotheca, mitochondria, and some membrane structures. The damaged mesophyll cell ultrastructure led to the decrease of photosynthetic capacity, and thus resulted in significant yield reduction by 45, 11, and 84 % in S1, S2, and S3 treatments, respectively, compared to that of CK.

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Abbreviations

Ch:

Chloroplast

C i :

Intracellular CO2 concentration

CK:

Control

CM:

Chloroplast membrane

CW:

Cell wall

GL:

Grana lamella

G s :

Stomatal conductance

LAI:

Leaf area index

Mi:

Mitochondria

N:

Nucleus

Ne:

Nuclear envelope

Nu:

Nucleolus

P:

Particles

P n :

Net photosynthetic rate

R1:

Silking stage

R3:

Milk-ripe stage

R6:

Physiological maturity

S1:

Shading from R1 to R6

S2:

Shading from V6 to R1

S3:

Shading from seedling to R6

SL:

Stroma lamella

V6:

The sixth leaf stage

VT:

Tasseling stage

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for grants from the National Modern Agricultural Technology and Industry System (CARS-02-20), the National Basic Research Program of China (973, Program: 2015CB150404), the National Natural Science Funds (31271662), and Shandong Province Key Agricultural Project for Application Technology Innovation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology and College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, Shandong, 271018, People’s Republic of China

    Baizhao Ren, Haiyan Cui, Shuting Dong, Peng Liu, Bin Zhao & Jiwang Zhang

  2. Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    James J. Camberato

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  1. Baizhao Ren
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  2. Haiyan Cui
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  3. James J. Camberato
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  4. Shuting Dong
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  5. Peng Liu
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  6. Bin Zhao
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  7. Jiwang Zhang
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Correspondence to Jiwang Zhang.

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Communicated by: Sven Thatje

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Ren, B., Cui, H., Camberato, J.J. et al. Effects of shading on the photosynthetic characteristics and mesophyll cell ultrastructure of summer maize. Sci Nat 103, 67 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-016-1392-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-016-1392-x

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