Lecture 3

Photosynthesis 1
 Constituent of plant component
• Plants component: water (70%), organic
matter (27%), mineral (3%) -
dry matter
• Water – eg. Tomato contain 42-93%
water
young shoot – 90-95% water
cereal/grain – 10-16% water
• Organic matter – protein, CHO, lipid and
etc.
• Mineral – 17 elements (macro
mg/g dry
matter, micro
ug/g dry matter)
water (CH2O)n

Pn

oxigen
Carbon dioxide
E (from solar radiation)
• Leaf absorption of radiation on leaf surface –
reflected (2%), absorbed (15%) and
transmitted (2%)
• Not all light been used for Pn but been
reflected or been transmitted from low
wavelength to high, called fluorescence.
 Light – the provider of life
• Through a series of nuclear reactions occurring
within the sun, mass is converted into energy E= mc2
• Agriculture is a system of exploiting solar energy
through Pn
• Yield is dependent upon the size and efficiency of the
photosynthetic system
• Pigment excitation is dependent upon the interaction
between a photon and a pigment, a measure of light
used in Pn is often based on photon flux density
 Light quantification
• Electromagnet theory – light travels through space as
a wave and the number of waves passing a given
point in a certain time interval is a frequency
• Quantum theory – light travels in a stream of
particles called photons. The energy present in one
photon is called a quantum
• Photon flux density – number of photons striking a
given surface area per unit of time
 Light and measurement
• Photometric units
• Radiometric units
• Photon flux density – also known as irradiance
 Measurements of Sunlight
Env. Photometric Radiometric Photon Flux Density
(kilolux) J/m2/s (400-700nm)
( umol/m2/s)

Full Sun 100-130 750-1000 1840 – 2400

(400-520)

Overcast 14 – 16 55 – 65 250 – 300

Deeply
shaded 0.8 3 15
 Solar radiation
• Radiation – linkage of wavelength, max intensity occurs at
500nm
• Plants appear to have adapted to utilize solar radiation
between 400 – 700nm
• Solar radiation level decreases as it passed through the
atmosphere due to absorption and scattering
- electromagnet spectrum
- transfer energy (E) through free media
eg. Leaf – will reflect green color but absorb blue color
 Solar radiation (cont..)
• Solar radiation absorbed during the daytime
by a crop surface
1. 75 - 85% - used to evaporate water
2. 5 - 10% - sensible heat storage in the soil
3. 5 – 10% - sensible heat storage in the atmosphere
y convection processes
4. 1 – 5% - goes into Pn
• Wavelengths between 400 – 700nm are most
efficiently used in Pn
• Light - small part of the spectrum
- radiation that visible to human
eyes
- radiation that emitted and
absorbed in discreate packets of
energy
called photon @
quantum
- inverse rely proportional to
wavelength
uv -
>> E than infrared
Photosynthetically active radiation (PhAR)
@ PAR
• Visible radiation - 300 – 740 nm
• Photon flux density
(PAR: μE/m2/s)

(Photon per area per time)

Photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD)

• Unit (PPF: μmol/m2/s)

• Full sun – solar irradiance 95 000 lux
• E – must absorb by certain part from the
plant. Eg. Chloroplast, photosynthetic
pigments
 Absorption and fate for light energy
• Pigment- biological compound that absorbs
light
• Absorption – extremely fast process (10-15s)
• Energy of the absorbed photon is
transformed to an electron in the molecule
1. Energy of the e- is elevated from the ground state to
an elevated level known as excited of singlet state
2. A photon can only absorbed if its energy content
matched the energy required to raise the electron to
a higher, allowable energy state
3. An excited molecule has a very short lifespan (10-9s)
and must rid itself of any excess energy and return to
ground state
 Absorption and action spectrum
• Function of wavelength
• Action spectrum : specific for an individual
molecule
 Plants absorb light by specific pigments
contained in thylakoids
Organisms Pigments
Cynobacteria Chl a, phycobilins, β-carotene,
myxoxanthin
Red algae Chl a, phycobilins, β-carotene, lutein
Cryptomonad chl a, chl c2 , phycobilins, β-carotene,
algae alloxanthin
Dinoflagellates chl a, chl c2 , β-carotene, peridinin
Brown algae, chl a, chl c1, chl c2 , β-carotene,
diatoms fucoxanthin
Golden algae Chl a, chl c1, chl c2 , β-carotene,
fucoxanthin
Green algae, Chl a, chl b, β-carotene, lutein
higher plant
 Photosynthesis pigments
(photoreceptors)
Chlorophyll
• Porphryin head
• Made of 4 nitrogen containing pyrrole rings
• Long hydrocarbon tail (phytol tail)
• Chl molecule is completed with the addition
of the Mg ion chelated to the 4 nitrogen
atoms
• Four known types of chl- a, b, c and d
• Absorption specrtra is very specific
 Tetrapyrrole head

Chl a

Phytol tail
 Carotenoids
• Lipid soluble
• Includes carotenes and xanthophylls
• Carotenes – predominately orange/red-orange
• Β-carotene – major carotenoid in algae and higher
plants
• May protect chl by absorbing excess blue light and
combining with oxygen to form xanthophylls
• Absorb light of approx. 400-495 nm.
 flavonoids
• Include the pink, purple, scarlet and blue
anthocyanins
• Water soluble pigments and are found
predominately in vacuolar sap
• May protect the underlying tissue from UV
radiation
• Attractants to insects (uv and visible
spectrum)
 Phycobilins
• Serve as accessory light-harvesting pigments
and /or critical regulatory system in green
plants
• Three phycobilins are involved in Pn –
phycoerythrin, phycocyanin, allophycocyanin
and phytochromobolin) is an important
photoreceptor
• Differ from chl in that the tetraphyrole grp is
covalently linked to a protein structure
 Phycobilins (cont..)
• Exist in 2 forms that are photo reversible
1. P660 (Pr) absorbs max at 660nm
2. Absorption at 660nm converts it to a second far-
red pigment (P735 or Pfr)
a) absorption at 735nm coverts the protein back to P660
b) Pr is believed to be an active from of the pigment
responsible for initiating a wide range of
photomorphogenic responses