Responses of C4 grasses to atmospheric CO2 enrichment : I. Effect of irradiance.

The growth and photosynethetic responses to atmospheric CO2 enrichment of 4 species of C4 grasses grown at two levels of irradiance were studied. We sought to determine whether CO2 enrichment would yield proportionally greater growth enhancement in the C4 grasses when they were grown at low irradiance than when grown at high irradiance. The species studied were Echinochloa crusgalli, Digitaria sanguinalis, Eleusine indica, and Setaria faberi. Plants were grown in controlled environment chambers at 350, 675 and 1,000 μl 1-1 CO2 and 1,000 or 150 μmol m-2 s-1 photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD). An increase in CO2 concentration and PPFD significantly affected net photosynthesis and total biomass production of all plants. Plants grown at low PPFD had significantly lower rates of photosynthesis, produced less biomass, and had reduced responses to increases in CO2. Plants grown in CO2-enriched atmosphere had lower photosynthetic capacity relative to the low CO2 grown plants when exposed to lower CO2 concentration at the time of measurement, but had greater rate of photosynthesis when exposed to increasing PPFD. The light level under which the plants were growing did not influence the CO2 compensation point for photosynthesis.