Variability in mesophyll conductance between barley genotypes, and effects on transpiration efficiency and carbon isotope discrimination

Margaret M. Barbour*, Charles R. Warren, Graham D. Farquhar, Guy Forrester, Hamish Brown

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    130 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Leaf internal, or mesophyll, conductance to CO2 (gm) is a significant and variable limitation of photosynthesis that also affects leaf transpiration efficiency (TE). Genotypic variation in gm and the effect of gm on TE were assessed in six barley genotypes (four Hordeum vulgare and two H. bulbosum). Significant variation in gm was found between genotypes, and was correlated with photosynthetic rate. The genotype with the highest gm also had the highest TE and the lowest carbon isotope discrimination as recorded in leaf tissue (Δp). These results suggest gm has unexplored potential to provide TE improvement within crop breeding programmes.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1176-1185
    Number of pages10
    JournalPlant, Cell and Environment
    Volume33
    Issue number7
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jul 2010

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