Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-rkxrd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T19:05:22.026Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Some aspects of competition for light in potatoes and sugar beet

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

P. M. Bremner ,
E. A. K. El Saeed  and
R. K. Scott
P. M. Bremner
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham School of Agriculture, Sutton Bonington, Loughborough, Leics.
E. A. K. El Saeed
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham School of Agriculture, Sutton Bonington, Loughborough, Leics.
R. K. Scott
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham School of Agriculture, Sutton Bonington, Loughborough, Leics.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

1. In experiments on potatoes and sugar beet, interplant competition for light was varied by altering the spacing distance between plants grown in containers, while competition for water and nutrients was eliminated.

2. In both experiments the relative growth rate was 10 % less in closely spaced plants because net assimilation rate was greatly decreased; leaf area ratio was increased. Increasing competition for light decreased mineral nutrient uptake.

3. It was considered that differences between the treatments in the intensity of competition for light was greater in these experiments than it normally in the field because differences in leaf area index were greater. The leaf area of widely spaced plants was smaller in these experiments than in the field; this was thought to be due to a more limited supply mineral nutrients in the former.

4. In both species, the greatest crop growth rates were observed at leaf-area indices well below the maxima attained. The likelihood that observed crop growth rates were near maximal under the prevailing environmental conditions is discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 69 , Issue 2 , October 1967 , pp. 283 - 290
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1967

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Black, J. N. (1963). The interrelationship of solar radiation and leaf area index in determining the rate of dry matter production of swards of subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.). Auat. J. ogric. Res. 14, 20.Google Scholar
Blackman, G. E. & Black, J. N. (1959a). Physiological and ecological studies in the analysis of plant environment. XI. A further assessment of the influence of shading on the growth of different species in the vegetative phase. Ann. Bot. (N.S.), 23, 51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blackman, G. E. & Black, J. N. (1959b). Physiological and ecological studies in the analysis of plant environment. XII. The role of the light factor in limiting growth. Ann. Bot. (N.S.), 23, 131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bremner, P. M. & Radley, R. W. (1966). Studies in potato agronomy. II. The effects of variety and time of planting on growth, developmen and yield. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 66, 253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bremner, P. M. & Taha, M. A. (1966). Studies in potato agronomy. I. The effect of variety, seed size and spacing on growth, development and yield. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 66, 241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brougham, R. W. (1956). Effect of intensity of defoliation on regrowth of pasture. Aust. J. agric. Res. 7, 377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, J. L. & Donald, C. M. (1958). The growth of swards of subterranean clover with particular reference to leaf area. Aust. J. agric. Res. 9, 53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, J. L. & Phillip, J. R. (1958). Light and pasture growth. In Climatology and Microclimatology. Proc. Canberra Symp., pp. 181–7. Paris: U.N.E.S.C.O.Google Scholar
Donald, C. M. (1961). Competition for light in crops and pastures. Symp. Soc. exp. Biol. 15, 282.Google Scholar
Donald, C. M. (1963). Competition among crop and pasture plants. Adv. Agron. 15, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, G. C. & Hughes, A. P. (1961). Plant growth and the aerial environment. 1. Effect of artificial shading in Impatiens parviflora. New Phytol. 60, 150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkinson, J. M. (1963). Growth of leaves of Cucumis sativus Ph.D. thesis, University of Nottingham.Google Scholar
Hopkinson, J. M. (1964). Studies on the expansion of the leaf surface. IV. The carbon and phosphorus economy of a leaf. J. exp. Bot. 15, 125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ludwig, L. J., Saeki, T. & Evans, L. T. (1965). Photosynthesis in artificial communities of cotton plants in relation to leaf area. 1. Experiments with progressive defoliation of mature plants. Aust. J. biol. Sci. 18, 1103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milthorpe, F. L. (1961). The nature and analysis of competition between plants of different species. Symp. Soc. exp. Biol. 15, 330.Google Scholar
Milthorpe, F. L. (1963). Some aspects of plant growth. An introductory survey. In The Growth of the Potato. Proc. 10th Easter School in Agric. Sci., Univ. Nottm. p. 3. Ed. Ivins, J. D. and Milthorpe, F. L.. London: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Monteith, J. L. (1962). Measurement and interpretation of carbon dioxide in the field. Neth. J. agric. Sci. 10, 334.Google Scholar
Szeicz, G., Monteith, J. L. & Dos Santos, J. M. (1964). Tube solarimeter to measure radiation among plants. J. appl. Ecol. 1, 169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, R. K. & Bremner, P. M. (1966). The effects of growth, development and yield of sugar beet of extension of the growth period by transplantation. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 66, 379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stern, W. R. & Donald, C. M. (1962). Light relationships in grass-clover swards. Aust. J. agric. Res. 13, 615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Terry, N. (1963). Physiology of sugar beet in relation to temperature. M.Sc. thesis, University of Nottingham.Google Scholar
Watson, D. J. (1956). Leaf growth in relation to yield. In The Growth of Leaves Proc. 3rd Easter Sch. in Agric. Sci. Univ. Nottm., p. 178. Ed. Milthorpe, F. L.. London: Butterworths.Google Scholar