Effects of Weather Conditions on Sunburn in Stalk Curing of Burley Tobacco

The effects of stalk cutting time and environmental factors such as air temperature, leaf temperature, solar radiation and leaf moisture content during harvesting and curing in burley tobacco(Nicotiana tabacum L.) on weight loss of fresh stalks and sunburning in leaves were investigated at Chonju Experiment Station, Korea Ginseng & Tobacco Research Institute in 1996 and 1997. Twelve to fifteen percent of the fresh weight was lost in 3 to 4 hours after stalk-cutting, and sunburned leaves could be observed in case of stalk cutting between 11:00 and 15:00 O'clock on a clear sunny day, when the air temperature was 34 to 35$^{\circ}C$, leaf temperature 52 to 54$^{\circ}C$, and solar radiation 700 to 940 w/$m^2$. The leaves exposed to this weather condition were sunburned within 1 hour after stalk cutting. But low temperature (below $25^{\circ}C$) with high solar radiation(above 700w/m2) or high temperature(above 3$0^{\circ}C$) with low solar radiation (below 600w$m^2$) did not induce the sunburn damage in leaves. As the leaf temperature and leaf moisture content were higher, the sunburned leaves increased. The leaves at the higher stalk position were more easily sunburned than those at the lower. This result indicates that the immature leaves with higher chlorophyll content might be more susceptible to sunburning.