Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigate a response to low-light environments in hybrids and commercial cultivars of Boehmeria nivea L. Two hybrids (Chuanzhu 11 and Chuanzhu 8) and two commercial cultivars (Chuanzhu 12 and Chuanzhu 6) of ramie were subjected to a shade treatment for 6, 12, and 18 days. The shade treatment led to a significant decrease in some plant traits and fiber yield in four ramie cultivars, whereas their leaf area and plant height increased. In addition, net photosynthesis and stomatal conductance significantly declined in response to shade, while transpiration rate and intercellular CO2 did not significantly change. Moreover, chlorophyll (Chl) and carotenoid (Car) concentration, Chl/Car, and Chl (a+b) per leaf dry mass significantly increased in the response to shade, while the Chl a/b ratio decreased. Furthermore, Chuanzhu 6 and Chuanzhu 11 were more tolerant to shade than Chuanzhu 12 and Chuanzhu 8, thus, they could be potentially used for management practices and breeding programs.
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Abbreviations
- Car:
-
carotenoids
- Chl:
-
chlorophyll
- C i :
-
intercellular CO2 concentration
- DAT:
-
days of treatment
- DM:
-
dry mass
- E :
-
transpiration rate
- FM:
-
fresh mass
- gs :
-
stomatal conductance
- LA:
-
leaf area
- P N :
-
net photosynthetic rate
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Acknowledgments: This work was supported by the national ‘Twelfth 5-Year’s scientific and technological support project (2012BAD20B05-04), the National Natural Science Foundation Program (31 371 704), scientific and technological project of Hunan (2010TP4004-1, 2010FJ2013 and 2012FJ4063).
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Huang, CJ., Wei, G., Jie, YC. et al. Effect of shade on plant traits, gas exchange and chlorophyll content in four ramie cultivars. Photosynthetica 54, 390–395 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-016-0186-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-016-0186-x