Effects of partial defoliation, changes of irradiance during growth, short-term water stress and growth at enhanced p(CO2) on the photosynthetic capacity of leaves of Phaseolus vulgaris L.

The response of CO2-assimilation rate to the intercellular partial pressure of CO2 (p(CO2)) is used to analyse the effects of various growth treatments on the photosynthetic characteristics of P. vulgaris. Partial defoliation caused an increase in CO2-assimilation rate at all intercellular p(CO2). A change in the light regime for growth from high to low light levels caused a decrease of CO2-assimilation rate at all intercellular p(CO2). Growth in a CO2-enriched atmosphere resulted in lowered assimilation assimilation rates compared with controls at comparable intercellular p(CO2). Short-term water stress initially caused only a decline in the CO2-assimilation rate at high intercellular p(CO2), but not at low intercellular p(CO2). Except under severe water stress, changes in the initial slope of the response of CO2-assimilation rate to intercellular p(CO2) were in parallel to those of the in-vitro activity of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) carboxylase. From the results, we infer that partial defoliation, changes in the light regime for growth, and growth in a CO2-enriched atmosphere cause parallel changes in RuBP-carboxylase (EC 4.1.1.39) activity and the "capacity for RuBP regeneration", whereas short-term water stress initially causes only a decline in the RuBP-regeneration capacity.