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An insight into spectral composition of light available for photosynthesis via remotely assessed absorption coefficient at leaf and canopy levels

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Abstract

Non-invasive comparative analysis of the spectral composition of energy absorbed by crop species at leaf and plant levels was carried out using the absorption coefficient retrieved from leaf and plant reflectance as an informative metric. In leaves of three species with contrasting leaf structures and photosynthetic pathways (maize, soybean, and rice), the blue, green, and red fractions of leaf absorption coefficients were 48, 20, and 32%, respectively. The fraction of green light in the total budget of light absorbed at the plant level was higher than at the leaf level approaching the size of the red fraction (24% green vs. 25.5% red) and surpassing it inside the canopy. The plant absorption coefficient in the far-red region (700–750 nm) was significant reaching 7–10% of the absorption coefficient in green or red regions. The spectral composition of the absorbed light in the three species was virtually the same. Fractions of light in absorbed PAR remained almost invariant during growing season over a wide range of plant chlorophyll content. Fractions of absorption coefficient in the green, red, and far-red were in accord with published results of quantum yield for CO2 fixation on an absorbed light basis. The role of green and far-red light in photosynthesis was demonstrated in simple experiments in natural conditions. The results show the potential for using leaf and plant absorption coefficients retrieved from reflectance to quantify photosynthesis in each spectral range.

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Acknowledgements

A.S. acknowledges the support from Shared Access Center of Derzhavin Tambov State University user facilities.

Funding

The support and use of facilities and equipment provided by the Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies (CALMIT), the School of Natural Resources, and the Carbon Sequestration Program, all at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, are greatly appreciated. This research was partially supported by the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station with funding from the Hatch Act (Accession Number 1002649) through the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Funding for AmeriFlux data resources was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. A.S. acknowledges the support of Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grant Number 19-016-00016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68583, USA

    Anatoly Gitelson & Anthony Nguy-Robertson

  2. Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68583, USA

    Timothy Arkebauer

  3. Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, GSP-1, Moscow, Russia, 119234

    Alexei Solovchenko

  4. Michurin Federal Scientific Center, Michurinsk, Russia, 393760

    Alexei Solovchenko

  5. Institute of Natural Sciences, Derzhavin Tambov State University, Tambov, Russia, 392000

    Alexei Solovchenko

  6. Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-8656, Japan

    Yoshio Inoue

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  1. Anatoly Gitelson
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Correspondence to Anatoly Gitelson or Alexei Solovchenko.

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Gitelson, A., Arkebauer, T., Solovchenko, A. et al. An insight into spectral composition of light available for photosynthesis via remotely assessed absorption coefficient at leaf and canopy levels. Photosynth Res 151, 47–60 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-021-00863-x

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