The photosynthesis package containing an O2 sensor can be used for measurements of plant respiration if the rate of O2 utilization of the tissue is sufficiently high. The low respiratory rate of a single leaf is barely detectable with the O2 sensor, but the rather large leaf chamber can be filled with enough tissue of other types that respiration can be measured, tissues such as potato tuber discs or germinating seeds. For respiration measurements the photosynthetic set-up can be simplified by removing all accessories associated with the light source, the lamp, dimmer control, light sensor and beaker of water (see general set-up). The accompanying laboratory exercise illustrates the use of this modified system for measuring respiration rates in aged and fresh potato discs in the presence or absence of metabolic inhibitors.
| Support and funding provided by: |
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Andrew W. Mellon Foundation |
Instrumentation manufactured by: |
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