We present an operational method for estimating the amount of PAR intercepted by a coniferous shoot. Interception of PAR by a shoot is divided into three components: the amount of radiation coming from the sky, the transmission of radiation through the surrounding vegetation, and the shoot' s silhouette area facing the direction of the incoming radiation. All three components usually vary with ...

Root growth and architecture are major components of plant nutrient and water use efficiencies and these traits are the matter of extensive genetic analysis in several crop species. Because root growth relies on exported assimilate from the shoot, and changes in assimilate supply are known to alter root architecture, we hypothesized (i) that the genetic bases of root growth could be intertwined...

Fifteen, 1-year-old Populus maximowiczii Henry x P. nigra L. 'MN9' trees were decapitated and allowed to sprout. After 8 weeks, all had 6 to 10 coppice shoots. All shoots, except the tallest (dominant) shoot, were removed from five of the trees (pruned treatment), and shoot growth, gas exchange and carbohydrate status were compared in the pruned and unpruned trees. Although photosynthetic rate ...

Dissecting the genetic basis of complex traits is aided by frequent and nondestructive measurements. Advances in range imaging technologies enable the rapid acquisition of three-dimensional (3D) data from an imaged scene. A depth camera was used to acquire images of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), an important grain, forage, and bioenergy crop, at multiple developmental time points from a greenhouse...

In order to investigate the effect of Cd and Zn on uptake, concentration and the translocation factor of the Cd and Zn in the rice plant, a factorial experiment was conducted with four factors including two rice cultivars of Vandana and Hashemi, two waterlogged and non-waterlogged conditions and three levels of Zn and Cd (0, 5 and 10 mg kg-1 soil). The experiment was carried out in a randomized...

Vascular plants produce new organs at the tip of the stem in a very organized fashion. This patterning process occurs in small groups of stem cells, the so-called shoot apical meristems (SAM), and generates regular patterns called phyllotaxis. The phyllotaxis of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana follows a Fibonacci spiral, the most frequent phyllotactic pattern found in nature. In this phyll...

The following names are proposed for species of Lentaria new to science: L. boletosporioides from New Zealand with stout basidiomata and boletoid basidiospores; L. caribbeana from Caribbean islands and circum-Caribbean landmasses, with large basidiomata and large basidiospores; L. glaucosiccescens from New Zealand, with basidiomata turning grey-green upon drying; and L. rionegrensis from Argent...

Conventional methods of pear breeding, largely based on intra- and inter-specific hybridization, are difficult because pear is highly heterozygous, polygenic and has a long juvenile period. Genetic improvements of pear cultivars are possible through induction of mutations and gene transfer by genetic engineering. A general prerequisite for these approaches is to establish an efficient plant reg...