Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol 49, 59-68, Copyright © 1998 by Oxford University Press
C Gary, J Andriolo, J Frossard and J Le Bot
The construction cost of a plant tissue, i.e. the amount of
photoassimilates used in the synthesis of a unit weight, varies with its
biochemical composition. Crop modellers use standard values published for a
few groups of cultivated species. Yet, there are also intraspecific
variations in the construction cost in relation with the development of the
plant or organ. This research aimed at analysing the ontogenic changes in
the construction cost of leaves, stems, roots, and fruits of tomato plants
and the specific contribution of the mineral content to these changes. For
that purpose, samples were harvested from the vegetative phase to the
beginning of fruit production. The estimation of the construction cost was
based on the contents of carbon, nitrogen and ash. In leaves, the
construction cost decreased with the physiological age whereas, in stem
internodes, it varied with the sympod number. These ontogenic changes could
partly be explained by different accumulations of minerals. In contrast,
the construction cost and the mineral content of fruits and roots remained
fairly stable. On a whole plant basis, the construction cost of the bulk of
each category of organs varied much less. Most of the increase in the mean
construction cost of the whole plant during the experiment was due to
changes in the allocation ratio between the vegetative parts and the
fruits. Attention of crop modellers is drawn to the importance of a precise
estimation of the construction cost and to the existence of ontogenic
changes at the whole plant and organ levels.
ARTICLES
Ontogenic changes in the construction cost of leaves, stems fruits and roots of tomato plants
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Unite de Bioclimatologie, Domain St-Paul, Site Agroparc, F-84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Unite de Recherches en Ecophysiologie et Horticulture, Domaine St-Paul, Site Agroparc, F-84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France; ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Unite Associee Bioclimatologie-PIAF, Site de Crouel, 234 avenue de Brezet, F-63039 Clermont-Ferrand Cedex 2, France; Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Centro de Ciencias Rurais, Departamento de Fitotecnia, 97119-900 Santa Maria, RS, Brasil; Corresponding author e-mail: gary@avignon.inra.fr
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  H.-F. Liu, M. Genard, S. Guichard, and N. Bertin Model-assisted analysis of tomato fruit growth in relation to carbon and water fluxes J. Exp. Bot., October 1, 2007; 58(13): 3567 - 3580. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 C. GARY, P. BALDET, N. BERTIN, C. DEVAUX, M. TCHAMITCHIAN, and P. RAYMOND Time-course of Tomato Whole-plant Respiration and Fruit and Stem Growth During Prolonged Darkness in Relation to Carbohydrate Reserves Ann. Bot., March 1, 2003; 91(4): 429 - 438. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|