Leaf nutrition and photosynthetic performance of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) were compared between two sugar maple stands in northwestern Vermont with contrasting health conditions as indicated by annual basal area growth, degree of crown dieback, and foliar appearance. Observations made during the diurnal cycle of both stands showed no apparent leaf water stress. In both stands, leaves...

Abstract Identifying the physiological traits indirectly selected during search for high-yielding maize hybrids is useful guiding further improvements. To investigate such traits, in this study we focused on critical period of kernel formation because number main yield component affected by breeding. Our results show that breeding has increased florets per ear and growth rate but not vegetative...

Active gibberellin (GA(1)) is an important mediator of thermoperiodic growth in pea. Plants grown under lower day than night temperature (negative DIF) elongate less and have reduced levels of GA(1) compared with plants grown at higher day than night temperature (positive DIF). By comparing the wild type (WT) and the elongated DELLA mutant la cry(s), this study has examined the effect of impair...

In ecological setting, sodium (Na(+)) can be beneficial or toxic, depending on plant species and the Na(+) level in the soil. While its effects are more frequently studied at high saline levels, Na(+) has also been shown to be of potential benefit to some species at lower levels of supply, especially in C4 species. Here, clonal plants of the major tropical C3 crop Theobroma cacao (cacao) were g...

The goal of the study was to explore hydraulic traits in a 4-year-old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation to better understand plasticity of this species to resource availability. The influence of a factorial combination of irrigation (130 mm year 1 versus 494 mm year ) and fertilization (0 kg N ha 1 year 1 versus 80 kg N ha 1 year ) on stand-level transpiration, canopy stomatal conductan...

to evaluate the effect of environment on the general and specific combining ability of virginia tobacco genotypes, five varieties were intercrossed in combination in 2007 in a half – diallel design. in 2008, the ten f1 population and the five parental lines were sown in two different conditions (drought stress and non-stress) using a complete randomized block design with three replications and ...

The hydraulic conductance of the leaf lamina ( K lamina ) substantially constrains whole-plant water transport, but little is known of its association with leaf structure and function. K lamina was measured for sun and shade leaves of six woody temperate species growing in moist soil, and tested for correlation with the prevailing leaf irradiance, and with 22 other leaf traits. K lamina varied ...

Recent studies have shown that stomata respond to changes in hydraulic conductance of the flow path from soil to leaf. In open-grown tall trees, branches of different heights may have different hydraulic conductances because of differences in path length and growth. We determined if leaf gas exchange, branch sap flux, leaf specific hydraulic conductance, foliar carbon isotope composition (delta...