Leaf Emergence (leaf + emergence)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Foliar demand and resource economy of nutrients in dry tropical forest species

JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE, Issue 1 2001
C.B. Lal
Important phenological activities in seasonally dry tropical forest species occur within the hot-dry period when soil water is limiting, while the subsequent wet period is utilized for carbon accumulation. Leaf emergence and leaf area expansion in most of these tree species precedes the rainy season when the weather is very dry and hot and the soil cannot support nutrient uptake by the plants. The nutrient requirement for leaf expansion during the dry summer period, however, is substantial in these species. We tested the hypothesis that the nutrients withdrawn from the senescing leaves support the emergence and expansion of leaves in dry tropical woody species to a significant extent. We examined the leaf traits (with parameters such as leaf life span, leaf nutrient content and retranslocation of nutrients during senescence) in eight selected tree species in northern India. The concentrations of N, P and K declined in the senescing foliage while those of Na and Ca increased. Time series observations on foliar nutrients indicated a substantial amount of nutrient resorption before senescence and a ,tight nutrient budgeting'. The resorbed N-mass could potentially support 50 to 100% and 46 to 80% of the leaf growth in terms of area and weight, respectively, across the eight species studied. Corresponding values for P were 29 to 100% and 20 to 91%, for K 29 to 100% and 20 to 57%, for Na 3 to 100% and 1 to 54%, and for Ca 0 to 32% and 0 to 30%. The species differed significantly with respect to their efficiency in nutrient resorption. Such interspecific differences in leaf nutrient economy enhance the conservative utilization of soil nutrients by the dry forest community. This reflects an adaptational strategy of the species growing on seasonally dry, nutrient-poor soils as they tend to depend more or less on efficient internal cycling and, thus, utilize the retranslocated nutrients for the production of new foliage biomass in summer when the availability of soil moisture and nutrients is severely limited. [source]


Vegetative growth and development of irrigated forage turnip (Brassica rapa var. rapa)

GRASS & FORAGE SCIENCE, Issue 4 2008
J. E. Neilsen
Abstract Field and greenhouse experiments were conducted to identify visual markers and predictors of changes in the vegetative growth rate of forage turnip (Brassica rapa var. rapa) as a potential tool to improve the timing of inputs of N and irrigation to periods of maximum demand. The onset of root expansion, which was associated with a colour change and the death of cotyledons, was identified as a critical marker for the beginning of the rapid growth of the crop and the accumulation of starch in the storage root but indicators of subsequent changes in vegetative growth rate were not identifiable. The results suggested that management inputs can be more readily targeted to the beginning of the exponential growth phase but targeting of later vegetative growth stages will remain arbitrary. The vegetative growth and development of the crop was also studied to elucidate the process of leaf emergence and senescence (turnover) as they affected both leaf and root yield. The sequential senescence of leaves, which began immediately after cotyledon death, and translocation of carbohydrate to the storage root, coupled with high leaf area index (LAI), probably account for the high growth rates of 220 kg ha,1 day,1 maintained for periods of 10 weeks after the onset of root expansion. High yields can be expected if high LAI is maintained by ensuring that leaf emergence rates are not limited by nutrient or water deficiencies and leaves are protected from insect pests. Forage turnip is particularly robust because new leaf continues to emerge as older and damaged leaves senesce and carbohydrate is stored as starch in the storage root. [source]


Leaf senescence is delayed in maize expressing the Agrobacterium IPT gene under the control of a novel maize senescence-enhanced promoter

PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL, Issue 2 2004
Paul R. H. Robson
Summary We have genetically modified maize plants to delay leaf senescence. A senescence-enhanced promoter from maize (PSEE1) was used to drive expression of the Agrobacterium cytokinin biosynthesis gene IPT in senescing leaf tissue. Three maize lines expressing IPT from PSEE1, Sg1, Sg2 and Sg3, were analysed in detail, representing mild, intermediate and extreme expression, respectively, of the delayed-senescence phenotype. Backcross populations segregating for the presence or absence of the PSEE1XbaIPTNOS transgene also simultaneously segregated for the senescence phenotype. At the time of ear leaf emergence, individuals of lines Sg1 and Sg2 segregating for the presence of the transgene carried about three fewer senescing leaves than control (transgene-minus) segregants, and IPT transcript levels were higher in leaves at incipient senescence than in young leaves. Leaves of transgenic Sg3 plants were significantly greener than controls and progressed directly from fully green to bleached and dead without an intervening yellowing phase. IPT transcript abundance in this line was not related to the initiation of senescence. Extended greenness was accompanied by a delay in the loss of photosynthetic capacity with leaf age. The delayed-senescence trait was associated with relatively minor changes in morphology and development. The phenotype was particularly emphasized in plants grown in low soil nitrogen. The reduced ability of the extreme transgenic line Sg3 to recycle internal nitrogen from senescing lower leaves accounted for significant chlorosis in emerging younger leaves when plants were grown in low nutrient conditions. This study demonstrates that the agronomically important delayed-senescence (,stay-green') trait can be engineered into a monocot crop, and is the first example outside Arabidopsis of senescence modification using a homologous senescence-enhanced promoter. [source]


Changes in synthesis and degradation of Rubisco and LHCII with leaf age in rice (Oryza sativa L.) growing under supplementary UV-B radiation

PLANT CELL & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 6 2002
A. Takeuchi
Abstract The effects of supplementary ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation on the changes in synthesis and degradation of ribulose -1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) and light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding protein of PSII (LHCII) were examined, as well as mRNA levels for small and large subunits of Rubisco (rbcS and rbcL, respectively) and LHCII (cab) with leaf age in UV-sensitive rice (Norin 1) and UV-resistant rice (Sasanishiki). Both Rubisco and LHCII were actively synthesized until the leaf had fully expanded, and then decreased with increasing leaf age. Synthesis of Rubisco, but not LHCII, was significantly suppressed by UV-B in Norin 1. The degradation of Rubisco was enhanced by UV-B around the time of leaf maturation in the two cultivars. The levels of rbcS and rbcL were reduced by UV-B at the early stages after leaf emergence in both cultivars. Cab transcripts were first present at high levels in the two cultivars, but drastically decreased due to UV-B treatment immediately after leaf emergence in Norin 1. It was shown that synthesis and degradation of Rubisco and LHCII greatly changed with leaf age: Rubisco synthesis was significantly suppressed by supplementary UV-B radiation at the transcription step during the early leaf stages. It was also suggested that the difference in UV-B sensitivity in Rubisco synthesis between the two rice cultivars might be due to specific suppression both transcriptionally and post-transcriptionally. [source]


Relationship between leaf emergence and optimum spray timing for leaf blotch (Rhynchosporium secalis) control on winter barley

PLANT PATHOLOGY, Issue 3 2006
C. S. Young
For wheat, the optimum time to apply fungicide to control disease on a given leaf layer is usually at, or shortly after, full leaf emergence. Data from field experiments on barley were used to investigate whether the same relationship was applicable to control of leaf blotch on barley. Replicated plots of winter barley were sown in the autumns of 1991, 1992 and 1993 at sites in southwest England with high risk of Rhynchosporium secalis infection. Single fungicide treatments at four doses (0·25, 0·5, 0·75 or 1·0 times the label rate) were applied at one of eight different spray times, starting in mid-March in each year, with intervals of 10,11 days between spray timings. Disease was assessed every 10,11 days and area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) values were used to construct fungicide dose by spray time response surfaces for each of the upper four leaves, for each year. Spray timings shortly before leaf emergence were found to minimize the AUDPC for each year and leaf layer, and also the effective dose (the dose required to achieve a specified level of control), similar to wheat. Fungicide treatments on barley were effective for a longer period before leaf emergence than afterwards, probably because treatments before emergence of the target leaf reduced inoculum production on leaves below. This partly explains why fungicides tend to be applied earlier in the growth of barley compared with wheat. [source]


Predicting effective fungicide doses through observation of leaf emergence

PLANT PATHOLOGY, Issue 6 2000
N. D. Paveley
Experimental data were used to test the hypothesis that the effective fungicide dose (ED) , the dose required to achieve a given level of disease suppression , varies in a predictable manner according to the pattern of development of the wheat canopy. Replicated and randomized field plots received a single systemic fungicide spray at either zero (control), 0·25, 0·5, 0·75 or 1·0 dose (the recommended dose), at one of eight timings from April to June. Wheat cultivars and locations for experiments were selected to promote epidemics of septoria tritici spot and yellow rust caused by Septoria tritici (anamorph of Mycosphaerella graminicola) and Puccinia striiformis, respectively. Logistic or exponential disease progress curves were fitted to disease severity data and used to estimate the date of disease onset (t0) and relative epidemic growth rate (r) on each leaf layer for each treatment. Area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) values were used to construct fungicide dose by spray timing response surfaces for each of the upper four leaves. A parsimonious function, with an exponential form in the dose,response dimension and a normal distribution in the timing dimension described a high proportion of the variation in AUDPC (R2 values ranging from 0·73 to 0·97). Consistent patterns of treatment effect were noted across pathogen species, leaf layers, sites and seasons. Fungicide applications that coincided with full leaf emergence delayed t0 on that leaf layer. Treatments applied after full leaf emergence did not delay t0, but reduced r. Progressively earlier or later treatments, or lower doses, had decreasing effects. AUDPC was affected more by t0 than r. AUDPC response surface parameter estimates showed that curvature of the dose,response was not affected by spray timing, but appeared to be a characteristic of the fungicide,pathogen combination. However, the lower asymptote of the dose,response curve, and hence the ED, varied substantially with spray timing. The pattern of change in ED with spray timing was consistent across a range of leaf layers, pathosystems and seasons, and the spray timing at which the ED was minimized varied only within a small range, around the time of leaf emergence. In contrast, variation in untreated disease severity, resulting from variation in initial inoculum and weather, was large. It was concluded that the main value of disease forecasting schemes may be in their capacity to predict the level of untreated disease, to which the economic optimum, or ,appropriate', dose relates. Spray timing determines the part of the canopy where disease will be efficiently controlled and hence the green leaf area saved. Timing decisions should relate to observations of emergence of those leaf layers important to yield. [source]


Effects of leaf emergence on leaf lifespan are independent of life form and successional status

AUSTRAL ECOLOGY, Issue 7 2008
ROGER J. DUNGAN
Abstract The longevity of a leaf is related to the benefit that the plant is able to derive from it. This benefit varies among seasons and as more leaves emerge, such that leaf lifespan can be limited by canopy position rather than physiological age. Using interval-censored failure time analysis, we investigate leaf lifespan for 34 Mediterranean species in a previously published dataset involving species with different life forms and functional strategies. Failure time regression models were used to determine leaf lifespan, and to investigate how these effects varied among species. Median lifespan estimated for each species with two methods differed by less than 10% on average, but varied from 0.02,19.5% depending on the shape of the underlying failure time distribution. Within shoots, later-emerging leaves had shorter lifespans for species with longer periods of leaf emergence, and the reverse was true for species with short emergence. Having accounted for the within-shoot effect, leaves emerging in spring had shorter lifespans, particularly herbaceous species, whereas the reverse was true woody species. These effects were consistent among life forms and successional stages, and consistent with theories of within-shoot translocation of resources following self-shading. [source]