Carbohydrate partitioning in relation to whole plant production and water use of Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.

Increases in plant biomass are mainly a balance between growth of new leaves and growth of new roots, the new leaves having positive feedback upon the production process and the new roots having positive feedback upon the plant water status. Control of both opposing processes with respect to biomass production may be considered optimal whenever biomass of the plant reaches a maximum without adversely affecting plant water status. This occurs only if all carbohydrates are partitioned into growth of new leaves, unless water uptake is insufficient to meet the additional evaporative demand created by the newly grown leaf area without decreasing the water status of the plant. It is shown by theoretical considerations based upon optimization theory, especially by application of the Pontryagin Maximum Principle, that in this case carbohydrate partitioning is dependent upon the transpiration rate per leaf weight and upon the efficiency of the root at taking up water. Growth of Vigna unguiculata at two levels of air humidity and two levels of water uptake rate by the root was consistent with such a carbohydrate partitioning pattern. Growth of total biomass and its components (leaves, stems, and roots), whole plant transpiration, and the pattern of carbon partitioning were predicted and explained by applying the foregoing principles of optimization in a heuristic model for vegetative growth of an annual.