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Photochemical and Non-Photochemical Quenching Coefficients of the Chlorophyll Fluorescence: Comparison of Variation and Limits

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Photosynthetica

Abstract

There are several types of quenching coefficients currently in use which describe the decrease of the chlorophyll fluorescence: the photochemical quenching coefficients qP and q(P)rel and the non-photochemical quenching coefficients qN, q(N)rel, and NPQ. These five coefficients were calculated for a broad variety of cases of the fluorescence signals in a normal, realistic range and for determining the limits in a range with extremely low and high fluorescence values. The calculations showed that the quenching coefficients currently in use are not only numbers between 0 and 1 as one would expect when taking them as a relative measure of the quenching process. Most quenching coefficients must be regarded and interpreted carefully separated from each other. Each photochemical quenching coefficient and each non-photochemical quenching coefficient describe the same fluorescence signal in a different way. Only the relative quenching coefficients q(P)rel and q(N)rel match together and can be used to demonstrate a shift of the energy de-excitation from the photochemical to the non-photochemical route.

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  1. Botanical Institute, University of Karlsruhe, D-76128, Karlsruhe, Germany

    C. Buschmann

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  1. C. Buschmann
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Buschmann, C. Photochemical and Non-Photochemical Quenching Coefficients of the Chlorophyll Fluorescence: Comparison of Variation and Limits. Photosynthetica 37, 217–224 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007003921135

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