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SPAD chlorophyll meter reading can be pronouncedly affected by chloroplast movement

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Abstract

Non-destructive assessment of chlorophyll content has recently been widely done by chlorophyll meters based on measurement of leaf transmittance (e.g. the SPAD-502 chlorophyll meter measures the leaf transmittance at 650 and 940 nm). However, the leaf transmittance depends not only on the content of chlorophylls but also on their distribution in leaves. The chlorophyll distribution within leaves is co-determined by chloroplast arrangement in cells that depends on light conditions. When tobacco leaves were exposed to a strong blue light (about 340 μmol of photons m−2 s−1), a very pronounced increase in the leaf transmittance was observed as chloroplasts migrated from face position (along cell walls perpendicular to the incident light) to side position (along cell walls parallel to the incoming light) and the SPAD reading decreased markedly. This effect was more pronounced in the leaves of young tobacco plants compared with old ones; the difference between SPAD values in face and side position reached even about 35%. It is shown how the chloroplast movement changes a relationship between the SPAD readings and real chlorophyll content. For an elimination of the chloroplast movement effect, it can be recommended to measure the SPAD values in leaves with a defined chloroplasts arrangement.

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Fig. 1
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Abbreviations

T :

Leaf transmittance

T C :

Partly collimated leaf transmittance

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant No. MSM 6198959215 from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic and by grants No. GA501/10/0785 and GA522/08/H003 from the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Biophysics, Department of Experimental Physics, Faculty of Science, Palacký University, Tř. 17. listopadu 12, 771 46, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Jan Nauš, Jitka Prokopová, Jiří Řebíček & Martina Špundová

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  1. Jan Nauš
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  2. Jitka Prokopová
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  3. Jiří Řebíček
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  4. Martina Špundová
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Correspondence to Martina Špundová.

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Nauš, J., Prokopová, J., Řebíček, J. et al. SPAD chlorophyll meter reading can be pronouncedly affected by chloroplast movement. Photosynth Res 105, 265–271 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-010-9587-z

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