Photosynthetic activity and growth analysis of the plant Costus spicatus cultivated under different light conditions

• Published in: The European physical journal. ST, Special topics Special topics, 2008, Vol.153 (1), p.527-529
• Main Authors: Campos, V. M., Pasin, L. A.A.P., Barja, P. R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Atomic; Autoecology; Biological and medical sciences; Classical and Continuum Physics; Condensed Matter Physics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agroecology; General agroecology. Agricultural and farming systems. Agricultural development. Rural area planning. Landscaping; General agronomy. Plant production; Generalities. Agricultural and farming systems. Agricultural development; Materials Science; Measurement Science and Instrumentation; Molecular; Optical and Plasma Physics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Plants and fungi
• ISSN: 1951-6355; 1951-6401
• DOI: 10.1140/epjst/e2008-00500-y

. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the effect of different radiance levels (25%, 50% and 100% of full sunlight) in growth (height, leaf area, number of leaves) and photosynthetic activity of the plant Costus spicatus , popularly known in Brazil as Caninha do Brejo. Photoacoustic (PA) measurements were performed in order to evaluate comparatively the photosynthetic activity rate of plants submitted to different light intensity regimes. The results obtained show that plants maintained under low light intensity levels (25% of sunlight) presented higher height, leaf area and number of leaves, while plants grown under full sunlight presented higher radicular length. PA measurements indicated higher photosynthetic rate for plants grown under 50% of full sunlight, but plants developed under 25% of full sunlight (75% shading) presented the fastest response to light incidence (photosynthetic induction).