Water deficit, leaf rolling and susceptibility to photoinhibition in field grown sorghum

Chlorophyll fluorescence and gas-exchange techniques were used to investigate changes in photosynthelic performance in response to high light and mild water deficit, in two cultivars of the C., plant sorghum ( Sorghurn bicofor [L.] Moench). grown under field conditions. For all leaves fully exposed to the sun, the efficiency of phcttosystem 11 (PSII) showed a mid-day decline, hut with substantial over-night recovery: the magnitude of the mid-day decline was enhanced by water deficit. There was no corresponding decline in leaves not exposed to full sunlight, either because they were shaded by other leaves or else because of leaf-roiling. Net assimilation rates appeared more sensitive to water-deficit than was PSI1 efficiency. Shade-adapted leaves had lower rates of photosynthesis in full sun (and lower stomatal conductances) than well-exposed leaves. When these shade-adapted leaves were suddenly exposed to full sunlight, fluorescence quenching was slow. especially when plants were well-watered. For the latter, photochemical quenching (q_p)was small even after several minutes. indicating a continuing imbalance between energy funnelled to PSI1 and subsequent electron transport. Shade-adapted leaves that were water stressed were better able to withstand a sudden increase in irradiance than those that were well watered. It is suggested that the shade-adapted eaves from unirrigated plants. having a lower s'tomatal conductance than the irrigated leaves, had been acclimated by receiving energy in excess of that required to fix CO₂, thus leading to the operation of dissipative mechanisms. A shortened protocol for quenching analysis is proposed that enables non-photochemical quenching to be partitioned into rapidly and slowly relaxing components (the latter including photoinhibition) by relating results to a theoretical maximum yield of variable fluorescence. This is particularly suitable for screening field material.