• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.187-193
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• 2013

Dry matter allocation characteristics of Calystegia soldanella, grown in pots, was analysed to assess its plasticity in response to water-stressed conditions. As water was withheld leaf water potential between the two watering treatments was similar during the first 6 days, followed by a rapid decrease in water-stressed plants. The minimum leaf water potential was -1.50 MPa on day 15 and the maximum leaf water potential was about -0.5 MPa on day 0 in water-stressed plants. In well-watered plants leaf water potential was maintained almost consistently throughout the experiment. There was no significant difference in plant dry weight between the two watering treatments for 9 days after the start of experiment and that was remarkably increased thereafter, compared with that remained without any increase in water-stressed plants. In dry mass partitioning, however, the water-stressed plants showed a great plasticity, showing that there were 1.81, 1.35 and 0.81 times increase in root, stem and leaf, respectively. Dry mass partitioning in well-watered plants varied from 2% to 5%. The difference of dry mass partitioning between the two watering treatments was reflected in leaf mass per unit area (LMA) and root/shoot (R/S) ratio. LMA in water-stressed plants was lower than that in well-watered plants, while R/S ratio in water-stressed plants was higher in well-watered plants. This means that the water-stressed plants reduced its leaf area and increased dry mass partitioning into root and stem during the progress of soil drying. These results indicate that Calystegia soldanella inhabiting in sand dune cope with water stress with high plasticity which can adjust its dry mass partitioning according to soil water conditions.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.565-572
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• 2013

The objective of this study was to describe and analyze the effect of high pressure sodium lamp lighting (HPS) on dynamics of growth and dry matter partitioning, and light use efficiency of sweet pepper crop grown over winter season. Young sweet pepper seedlings were planted at 3.75 plants per $m^2$ on September 29, 2010 and treated with HPS for 16 hours from December 14, 2010 until March 18, 2011. The number of leaves per plant were significantly increased with HPS, whereas the number of internodes and leaf area were less affected. HPS reduced the plant height with higher number of fruits per stem compared to those of without HPS lighting (CON). There were large differences in total dry mass production, stem and fruit dry mass between HPS and CON and those with HPS increased by 67.8%, 28.5%, and 97.1% compared to CON, respectively. Each organs of dry mass partitioning was calculated by leaf, stem or fruit growth rate divided by total plant growth rate. Dynamics of dry mass partitioning to leaf and stem between HPC and CON was measured in range of 45-47% at beginning of growth phase and drastically decreased after starting fruit growth in both treatments. Dry matter partitioning to vegetative organs was 4% higher compared to the plant grown under HPS lighting. Averaged dry matter partitioning to fruit with HPS, however, was largely increased by 14.2% compared to CON. Dynamics of the plant growth were well described by expolinear growth equation with three parameters of maximum relative growth rate, absolute growth rate and lost time to reach linear phase. The maximum growth rate of leaf, stem and fruit with HPS was increased by 18.6%, 74.7%, and 143.5% compared to CON. There was a linear relationship between intercepted light integral and vegetative organs (leaf and stem), fruit or total dry mass production. Light use efficiency (LUE, $g{\cdot}MJ^{-1}$) of total dry mass was $4.90g{\cdot}MJ^{-1}$ for HPS and $3.84g{\cdot}MJ^{-1}$ for CON, LUE of vegetative organs was $1.56g{\cdot}MJ^{-1}$ for HPS and $1.61g{\cdot}MJ^{-1}$ for CON and LUE of fruit dry mass was $3.34g{\cdot}MJ^{-1}$ for HPS and $2.23g{\cdot}MJ^{-1}$ for CON. The difference in LUE of total dry mass between treatments, therefore, occurred mainly from the different in LUE of fruit dry mass.