Tree age-dependent changes in photosynthetic and respiratory CO2 exchange in leaves of micropropagated diploid, triploid and hybrid aspen.

The growth rate of triploid European aspen (Populus tremula L.) and hybrid aspen (P. tremula × Populus tremuloides Michx.) significantly exceeds that of diploid aspen, but the underlying physiological controls of the superior growth rates of these genotypes are not known. We tested the hypothesis that the superior growth rate of triploid and hybrid aspen reflects their greater net photosynthesis rate. Micropropagated clonal plants varying in age from 2.5 to 19 months were used to investigate the ploidy and plant age interaction. The quantum yield of net CO2 fixation (Φ) in leaves of young 2.5-month-old hybrid aspen was lower than that of diploid and triploid trees. However, Φ in 19-month-old hybrid aspen was equal to that in triploid aspen and higher than that in diploid aspen. Φ and the rate of light-saturated net photosynthesis (ANS) increased with plant age, largely due to higher leaf dry mass per unit area in older plants. ANS in leaves of 19-month-old trees was highest in hybrid, medium in triploid and lowest in diploid aspen. Light-saturated photosynthesis had a broad temperature optimum between 20 and 35 °C. Rate of respiration in the dark (RDS) did not vary among the genotypes in 2.5-month-old plants, and the shape of the temperature response was also similar. RDS increased with plant age, but RDS was still not significantly different among the leaves of 19-month-old diploid and triploid aspen, but it was significantly lower in leaves of 19-month-old hybrid plants. The initial differences in the growth of plants with different ploidy were minor up to the age of 19 months, but during the next 2 years, the growth rate of hybrid aspen exceeded that of triploid plants by 2.7 times and of diploid plants by five times, in line with differences in ANS of 19-month-old plants of these species. It is suggested that differences in photosynthesis and growth became more pronounced with tree aging, indicating that ontogeny plays a key role in the expression of superior traits determining the productivity of given genotypes.