Abstract
This experiment used chlorophyll fluorescence techniques to assess the effect of irradiant during leaf development on photoinhibition of photosynthesis in Panax ginseng. Seedlings of p. ginseng were grown in the 91asshouse at four shade levels. The maximum mid-day irradiant in each treatment between emergence (January 4) and completion of the experiment (February 25) was 1220, 485, 235, 125 $\mu$mol/$\textrm{m}^2$/s. To assess the rapidity of photosynthetic readaptation to changes in light levels, fluorescence parameters (Fo, F, Fm, Fm', AF/Fm;, Fv/Fm) were measured for three days before and after transfer of plants (on February 21) from each light treatment into each of the other light treatments. Before transfer, dark adapted values of Fv/Fm in the 1220 (0.699) and 485 (0.739) treatments were different from each other and lower than values in the 235 (0.764) and 125 (0.768) treatments, indicating mild photoinhibition. Patterns of change in F during the day also differed between treatments, with low light treatments tracking irradiant levels, but F in the high light treatment (1220) declined in the morning, presumably due to fluorescence quenching. Although plants grown at high irradiant had relatively low photosynthetic efficiency, relative electron transport rate was greater than in lower irradiant treatments. After transfer, plants adopted the daily pattern of change in F of the treatment to which they were moved with little change in absolute levels of F, except in plants transferred from the highest (1220) to the lowest light level (125), where F increased over the course of the three days following transfer. After plants were transferred, Fm' converged on values similar to those in plants raised in the treatments to which they were moved. Values of Fv/Fm in plants moved from low to high light declined dramatically, but there was no decline in plants from 485 moved to 1220. Values of Pv/Fm in plants that were moved from high light to lower light increased to values above those recorded in plants raised in the lower light treatments. Reductions in quantum efficiency caused by photoinhibition at high irradiant may be more than compensated for by higher electron transport rates, although evidence suggests that under high irradiant this tends to be balanced by reduced leaf area and earlier senescence. Chlorophyll fluorescence techniques appear capable of indicating effects of irradiant induced stress in ginseng, yielding results comparable to those obtained with gas exchange techniques but in less time and with greater replication.