Chilling and photosynthetic productivity of field grown maize (Zea mays); changes in the parameters of the light-response curve, canopy leaf CO2 assimilation rate and crop radiation-use efficiency.

The effect of growth temperatures on the photosynthetic performance of field grown maize (Zea mays cv. LG11) was examined for crops sown on 1 May and 28 June 1991. During the period of growth, 2 May to 10 August, the early-sown crop experienced temperatures below 10 °C on 33 occasions compared with only one for the crop sown on 28 June. The prolonged period of low temperatures throughout May and beginning of June were associated with a marked depression in CO2 assimilation rates at all light levels in the early-sown treatment. Chill-induced depression of the photosynthetic light-response curve reflected a sustained reduction in canopy leaf photosynthesis and crop radiation-use efficiency (RUE). During the early stages of growth, RUE was 65% lower in the early- than late-sown treatment, with no marked recovery observed in the former treatment until approximately three weeks after chilling conditions had ceased. Data show a close correlation between chill-induced depression of quantum yield (Φ) and RUE, with corresponding reductions in the light-saturated rates of CO2 assimilation (Pmax). The convexity of the light-response curve recovered most rapidly from chilling temperatures, and at least three weeks before any improvement in RUE. It is concluded that photosynthetic productivity of immature maize stands is less sensitive to changes in the convexity of the light response, than to changes in either Φ or Pmax.