Photosynthetic activity of leaves and non-leaf green organs of plants belonging to different families.
Maitra N., Sen S. P.
Author Affiliation: Department of Botany, Kalyani University, Kalyani 741 235, India.
Indian Journal of Plant Physiology 31 : 127-133
Abstract : Photosynthetic activity was determined in organs of Cucurbita moschata, Luffa acutangula, Trichosanthes dioica, tomatoes, capsicums, okras, sunflowers, Jatropha gossypiifolia and mangoes. Leaves were found to be photosynthetically more active than non-leaf organs such as fruit walls, stems, stipules and the calyces. This was partly due to the higher chlorophyll content of the leaves, however, isolated chloroplasts of fruit walls of several species and of C. moschata cotyledons and sunflower calyx, were more efficient than leaf chloroplasts. These observations suggest the presence of photosynthetic inhibitors in the non-leaf organs which limit the photosynthetic rate in vivo and are removed during isolation of the chloroplasts.