Abstract
THE dependence of plant respiration on photosynthesis and dry weight interests the crop scientist, and recently McCree1, in order to account for his data on white clover, put forward the following simple equation to describe whole plant behaviour where Rd is the dark respiration rate, W is the plant dry weight, and k and c are constants. Pg ′ is a gross photosynthetic rate which is calculated by using where Pn is the net photosynthetic rate. In this communication equation (1) is derived theoretically using a straightforward extension of Pirt's discussion of yield and maintenance in bacterial cultures2. The derivation gives a better understanding of the role of the constants k and c in McCree's equation. The relevance of dark and light respiration to the following analysis (where this distinction is at first ignored) and to McCree's equation is discussed later.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
McCree, K. J., in Productivity of Photosynthetic Systems; Models and Methods, Trebon, Czechoslovakia, 1969, Proceedings of the IBP/PP technical meeting (in the press).
Pirt, S. J., Proc. Roy. Soc., B, 163, 224 (1965).
Warren Wilson, J., in The Collection and Processing of Field Data (edit. by Bradley, E. F., and Denmead, O. T.), 96 (Interscience, New York, 1967).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
THORNLEY, J. Respiration, Growth and Maintenance in Plants. Nature 227, 304–305 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/227304b0
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/227304b0
This article is cited by
-
Night-time decline in plant respiration is consistent with substrate depletion
Communications Earth & Environment (2024)
-
Fluctuations in Radiation Use Efficiency Throughout the Growth Cycle in Diploid Potato Crop
American Journal of Potato Research (2024)
-
Partitioning of root respiration into growth, maintenance, and ion uptake components in a young larch-dominated forest
Plant and Soil (2023)
-
What regulates the rhizodeposition of winter oilseed rape during growth?
Plant and Soil (2022)
-
Fine root dynamics and partitioning of root respiration into growth and maintenance components in cool temperate deciduous and evergreen forests
Plant and Soil (2020)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.