LENGTH OF THE LIGHT‐DARK CYCLE AND PLANT GROWTH

Abstract

Tukey, H. B., Jr., and H. J. Ketellapper. (California Inst. Tech., Pasadena.) Length of the light‐dark cycle and plant growth. Amer. Jour. Bot. 50(2): 110–115. Illus. 1963.—It has been shown that the length of the light‐dark cycle which causes maximal growth of tomato, pea, peanut, and soybean plants is close to 24 hr for cycles consisting of equal periods of light and darkness. The exact optimum for tomato plants was determined by temperature; the optimal cycle length was 20 hr at 30 C and 27–30 hr at 14 C. Such an interaction between temperature and cycle length was not found in pea plants, because peas were less sensitive to cycle length than peanuts, tomatoes, and soybeans and did not respond to changes in cycle length of 2–3 hr. The response to cycle length was not influenced by the conditions in which the seedlings had been raised prior to the treatment. Seedlings raised in a 16‐hr light, 8‐hr dark regime responded in the same manner as those raised in continuous light. The response to cycle lengths of 18, 24, 36, and 48 hr was not changed qualitatively by the temperature during the growth determination. Small changes in cycle length had no characteristic effects on the rates of photosynthesis, respiration or stem elongation. Stem elongation showed a rapid and initial increase in rate when the light was turned off. It was concluded that plants possess an endogenous time‐measuring device with a period of 24 hr. For maximal growth to occur the external periodicity must be synchronized with the endogenous period of the plant. Efforts to obtain direct evidence for this hypothesis were not successful since no overt rhythms could be found in tomato plants.