The Effect of Irradiating Adaxial or Abaxial Side on Photosynthesis of Rose Leaves

Abstract

In many cropping systems most of the light irradiates the adaxial side of leaves. However, in cropping systems with intra canopy lighting a reasonable fraction of light may irradiate even the abaxial side of the leaves. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of irradiating the abaxial leaf side compared to irradiating the adaxial side, in rose plants grown in glasshouse with the bending technique. The instantaneous effects on the optical properties and the light response of photosynthesis were analysed in intact leaves. Results demonstrated that the rate of net photosynthesis was higher when leaves were lighted from the adaxial side compared to the abaxial side. This was the consequence of both a higher light absorption and higher quantum yield (photosynthesis per unit absorbed light) in adaxial-lighted leaves.

Enhancement of crop photosynthesis by diffuse light: quantifying the contributing factors

“…However, diffuseness of light may affect the fraction of light on the abaxial surface, which may have a different response curve (e.g. Paradiso and Marcelis, 2012). This might have led to a minor error in estimating the effects of diffuse light.…”

Light-Quality Manipulation to Control Plant Growth and Photomorphogenesis in Greenhouse Horticulture: The State of the Art and the Opportunities of Modern LED Systems

“…Accordingly, He et al (2019) highlighted that the impact of LED light quality on productivity can be linked to the induced modification of leaf traits more than the change in photosynthetic performance on a leaf area basis. However, it has to be taken into account that also the arrangement of light sources affects the light use efficiency (Paradiso and Marcelis 2012;Paradiso et al 2020).…”

Advantages of diffuse light for horticultural production and perspectives for further research

“…Conventionally, only the adaxial side of the leaf is illuminated by the light source when measuring single leaf photosynthesis, this might result in minor error in estimating the canopy photosynthesis under diffuse light. This is because diffuseness of light may affect the fraction of light on the abaxial leaf surface, while the abaxial surface have a different photosynthesis light response curve than adaxial surface ( Paradiso and Marcelis, 2012 ). Therefore, measurements of light absorption and photosynthesis light response curves on both the adaxial and abaxial side of leaves in the canopy in combination with functional–structural plant modeling might help to estimate these effects.…”