Modeling light response of effective quantum efficiency of photosystem II for C3 and C4 crops
Xiaolong Yang, Ting An, Zi-Wu-Yin Ye, Zi-Wu-Yin Ye, Hua-Jing Kang, Piotr Robakowski, Zi‐Piao Ye, Zi‐Piao Ye, Fu-Biao Wang, Shuangxi Zhou
Abstract
Effective quantum efficiency of photosystem II (Φ PSII ) represents the proportion of photons of incident light that are actually used for photochemical processes, which is a key determinant of crop photosynthetic efficiency and productivity. A robust model that can accurately reproduce the nonlinear light response of Φ PSII (Φ PSII – I ) over the I range from zero to high irradiance levels is lacking. In this study, we tested a Φ PSII – I model based on the fundamental properties of light absorption and transfer of energy to the reaction centers via photosynthetic pigment molecules. Using a modeling-observation intercomparison approach, the performance of our model versus three widely used empirical Φ PSII – I models were compared against observations for two C 3 crops (peanut and cotton) and two cultivars of a C 4 crop (sweet sorghum). The results highlighted the significance of our model in (1) its accurate and simultaneous reproduction of light response of both Φ PSII and the photosynthetic electron transport rate ( ETR ) over a wide I range from light limited to photoinhibition I levels and (2) accurately returning key parameters defining the light response curves.