Abstract
Leaves of Nicotiana tabacum L. and Ricinus communis L. develop with a wide range of different final sizes due to leaf position and nutrient
availability. The aim of this study was to investigate, on different organizational
levels of leaf growth, which parameters are affected by external nutrient availability
and which parameters are not affected and might thus be intrinsic, general patterns
of growth that govern plant architecture. We found that leaf size and final cell size
was larger with higher external nutrient availability, and that hexose concentrations
in N. tabacum were lower with higher nutrient availability. Despite these differences, several
dynamic parameters of leaf development were not affected by the nutrient treatment.
Leaves of all sizes within a species exhibited the same relationship between relative
leaf growth rate and relative leaf area (RLA), which is defined as the ratio of momentary
and final leaf area. External nutrient availability did not affect chlorophyll concentration
per parenchyma cell, which increased linearly with leaf development. Leaves of identical
RLA exhibited identical cell density patterns within their interveinal tissue layers.
This indicates a close connection between the kinematics of cell expansion and RLA
and, hence, reveals that kinematics are an intrinsic property of growing leaves that
can be scaled from the cell to the leaf level.
Key words
Developmental index - leaf growth -
Nicotiana tabacum
- nutrient availability - pattern formation -
Ricinus communis.
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A. Walter
Forschungszentrum Jülich
ICG III (Phytosphäre)
52425 Jülich
Germany
Email: a.walter@fz-juelich.de
Section Editor: M. Riederer