Our objective was to determine the relationship between daily and seasonal changes in understory light, and growth of 1- and 2-year-old american ginseng plants cultivated in a broadleaf forest. Using hemispherical photography and spectroradiometry, understory light [total, direct, and diffuse photon flux density (PFD), and sunfleck durations] and light quality [ultraviolet (UV) and red to far red (R:FR)] were evaluated during two consecutive growing seasons. While shoot and root dry weight (DW), and taproot area of 1-year-old american ginseng plants were related to sunfleck durations, accounting for up to 56% of the variation, the relationship reached a plateau at 2 h·d-1 sunfleck durations for growth. In September, growth of 1- and 2-year-old plants exposed to <2 h·d-1 sunfleck durations was positively related to diffuse PFD (and total PFD for 1-year-old plants), accounting for up to 69% of the variation. In mid-season (July 2000), shoot and root growth, and leaflet area of 2-year-old american ginseng were correlated with light PFD and light quality (UV and R:FR), accounting for up to 88% of the variation. Generally, the results suggest that exposing 1- and 2-year-old american ginseng plants to higher diffuse PFD and <2 h·d-1 sunfleck durations increases yield.
A continuous hydrogenation device was evaluated for the detoxification of selected tri-, tetra-, or pentacyclic polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds {anthracene, phenanthrene, chrysene, and benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P)} by hydrogenation. A substrate stream in hexane, 0.05-1.0% (w/v), was mixed with hydrogen-carbon dioxide (H2-CO2, 5-30% v/v) and delivered to a heated reactor column (25 cm x 1 cm) containing palladium supported on gamma alumina (Pd0/gamma-Al2O3) that was terminated with a capillary restrictor. The flow rate from the reactor, approximately 800 mL min(-1) decompressed gas, corresponded to 4 mL min(-1) fluid under the operating conditions of the trials. Reaction products were recovered by passing the reactor effluent through hexane. At 90 degrees C, the anthracene or phenanthrene substrate was hydrogenated only partially to octahydro and dodecahydro species and contained only a minor quantity of totally hydrogenated products. For substrates with increasing numbers of fused aromatic rings, the hydrogenation efficiency was decreased further. However, at an increasing temperature (90-150 degrees C) and increasing mobile phase flow rate (20.68 MPa corresponding to 2100 mL min(-1) decompressed gas), B[a]P and chrysene were hydrogenated, virtuallytotally, to their corresponding perhydro analogues (eicosahydrobenzo[a]pyrenes and octadecahydrochrysenes), respectively. That this approach might be useful for decontaminating soil extracts was supported by companion in vitro trials in which the substrate and products were assayed for mutagenic activity with five bacterial strains that are auxotrophic for histidine (Salmonella typhimurium TA98, TA100, TA1535, and TA1537) or tryptophan (Escherichia coliWP2 uvrA), using the bacterial reverse mutation assay (modified Ames test). Generally, substantial increases in revertant colony counts were not observed with any of the strains following exposure to the hydrogenation products in the absence or presence of the 10 or 30% S9 mix, which is consistent with the loss of mutagenic activity from these hydrogenation products.
Forest-grown American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) is exposed to daily and seasonal light variations. Our goal was to determine the effect of understory light changes on the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II, expressed as F v /F m , and photosynthetic pigment composition of two-year-old plants. Understory light photon flux density and sunfleck durations were characterized using hemispherical canopy photography. Our results showed that understory light significantly affected the F v /F m of American ginseng, especially during the initial development of the plants when light levels were the highest, averaging 28 mol m-2 d-1. Associated with low F v /F m during its initial development, American ginseng had the lowest levels of epoxidation state of the xanthophyll cycle of the season, suggesting an active dissipation of excess light energy absorbed by the chlorophyll pigments. As photon flux density decreased after the deployment of the forest canopy to less than 10 mol m-2 d-1 , chlorophyll a/b decreased suggesting a greater investment in light harvesting pigments to reaction centers in order to absorb the fleeting light energy.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.