Effects of UV‐B Radiation on Net Photosynthesis of Some Crop Plants1

Abstract

Thirteen crop plants were subjected to an enhanced ultraviolet “B” (UV‐B) radiation (280 to 320 nm) regime that simulated a 0.19 atm cm ozone level, solar angle 55° (approximately 50% ozone depletion at 30° N latitude), to determine their susceptibility to photosynthetic impairment. As evidenced by net CO 2 uptake and dry weight measurements, these plants exhibited a wide range of response to enhauced levels of UV‐B radiation. These species were classified either as “sensitive” (pea, Pisum sativum L.; collard, Brassica oleracea L., var. acephala ; cabbage, Brassica oleracea L., var. capitata ; soybean, Glycine max L.; and oat, Avena sativa L.), “moderately sensitive” (tomato, Lycopersicum esculentum L.; sorghum Sorghum bicolor L.; rye, Secale cereale L.; and rice, Oryza sativa L.), or “tolerant” (corn, Zea mays L.; digitgrass, Digitaria decumbens Stent.; pearl millet, Pennisetum americanum (L.) K. Schum.; and peanut, Arachis hypogaea L.) in respect to their sensitivity to UV‐B radiation. Plants grown in growth chambers with the same UV‐B enrichment but a lower irradiance of visible light (50 W.m ‐2 ) showed greater photosynthetic impairment than did greenhouse‐grown plants. This was postulated to be due to photorepair under greenhouse conditions.

Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record, shown for indexing and research. Copyright remains with the authors or the publisher. Read at the source ↗

The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.