Photosynthetic Responses to CO₂ in Relation to Leaf Development in Tomato

Abstract

The effects of CO₂ and O₂ concentration on the rate of CO₂ assimilation in C₃ species have been extensively studied (Gaastra 1959; Jolliffe, Tregunna 1973; Ehleringer, Björkman 1977; von Caemmerer, Farquhar 1981; Woo, Wong 1983) but there are few reports where the response to CO₂ has been examined in relation to leaf development (Ticha et al. 1980). In this study, tomato plants were grown in either ambient or 1000 ppm CO₂ and the effect of CO₂ concentration on the net CO₂ exchange of the 5th leaf determined at various irradiances and stages of leaf development. Only some of the results for leaves grown in high CO₂ are presented in this paper.