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Effects of the interaction between vapor-pressure deficit and salinity on growth and photosynthesis of Cucumis sativus seedlings under different CO2 concentrations

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Photosynthetica

Abstract

We studied growth and photosynthesis of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) seedlings under two vapor-pressure deficit levels (VPD; 0.4 and 3.0 kPa), two salinity levels (0 mM and 34 mM NaCl), and two CO2 concentrations ([CO2]; 400 and 1,000 μmol mol–1). Relative growth rate (RGR) decreased with increasing VPD, but the causal factor differed between salinity levels and CO2 concentrations. Under ambient [CO2], RGR decreased with increasing VPD at low salinity mainly due to decreased leaf area ratio (LAR), and decreased net assimilation rate (NAR) at high salinity. The decrease in intercellular [CO2] (Ci) with decreasing stomatal conductance caused by high VPD did not significantly limit net photosynthetic rate (PN) at low salinity, but PN was potentially limited by Ci at high salinity. At high [CO2], high VPD reduced LAR, but did not affect NAR. This is because the decrease in Ci occurred where slope of PN–Ci curve was almost flat.

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Abbreviations

AC:

ambient [CO2]

ANOVA :

analysis of variance

[CO2]:

CO2 concentration

C i :

intercellular CO2 concentration

DM:

dry mass

EC:

elevated [CO2]

g s :

stomatal conductance

J 300 and J 1500 :

electron transport rates at photosynthetic photon flux densities of 300 and 1,500 μmol m–2 s–1, respectively

LAR:

leaf area ratio

LMR:

leaf mass ratio

NAR:

net assimilation rate

P N :

net photosynthetic rate

Ψl :

leaf water potential

RGR:

relative growth rate

SLA:

specific leaf area

V cmax :

maximum rate of Rubisco carboxylase activity

VPD:

vapor-pressure deficit

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, Sakai, Osaka, 599 8531, Japan

    T. Shibuya, K. Kano, R. Endo & Y. Kitaya

Authors
  1. T. Shibuya
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  2. K. Kano
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  3. R. Endo
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  4. Y. Kitaya
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Correspondence to T. Shibuya.

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Acknowledgements: This research was supported by a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (KAKENHI 15H04575). The authors thank Ryo Matsuda (University of Tokyo) and Masahito Ueyama (Osaka Prefecture University) for valuable discussion of the experimental results, and Norio Hirai (Osaka Prefecture University) for his valuable help in our statistical analysis. The authors also thank referees and editors for their careful reading and valuable suggestions to improve this paper.

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Shibuya, T., Kano, K., Endo, R. et al. Effects of the interaction between vapor-pressure deficit and salinity on growth and photosynthesis of Cucumis sativus seedlings under different CO2 concentrations. Photosynthetica 56, 893–900 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-017-0746-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-017-0746-8

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