Specific photoperiodic stimulation of dry matter production in a high‐latitude cultivar of Poa pratensis

Abstract

Vegetative plants of Poa pratensis L. cv. Holt (origin 69°N) raised in short days gave large and significant increases in plant dry weight, plant height and leaf area upon exposure to continuous light, compared with 8‐h short days, at essentially identical daily inputs of radiant energy (8‐h summer daylight ± low intensity extension). For example, by the fourth harvest (after 26, 34 and 46 days at 21, 15 and 9°C, respectively), the dry weights of plants in long days were 81, 163 and 195% greater than those of the corresponding short‐day controls at the respective temperatures. Plant leaf areas in long days were between two and four times as large as control values by the end of the experiment. This was mainly due to increased leaf length caused by long‐day stimulation of cell extension and division. However, the photoperiod did not affect the partitioning of assimilates amongst leaves, culms and stolons. Most of these effects could also be brought about by exogenous gibberellin application to plants in short days. However, in contrast to the effect of long days, gibberellin treatment also induced stem internode elongation even in these vegetative plants. Examination by standard growth analysis procedures revealed that the observed increases in relative growth rate were due primarily to increased net assimilation rate followed, several days later, by increases in leaf area ratio when newly‐emerged leaves began to constitute a significant proportion of the leaf area. It is concluded that these reactions are of great adaptive significance for growth at the marginal temperatures prevailing at high latitudes.