The Effect of Blue and Red Light on the Content of Chlorophyll, Cytochrome f, Soluble Reducing Sugars, Soluble Proteins and the Nitrate Reductase Activity During Growth of the Primary Leaves of Sinapis alba

The photosynthetic characteristics of many species of plants are influenced by the light intensity under which the plant is grown. This is shown by the light saturation curves for CO2 uptake. Both the light intensity required for saturation and the light-saturated rate of CO2 uptake increase with the light intensity under which the plant is grown. Photosynthetic adaptation to different light levels involves balanced changes of many leaf factors. Low-light and high-light plants differ in a number of component steps of photosynthesis as well as in the structure and composition of the photosynthetic apparatus and in the leaf anatomy (see reviews by Boardman 1977; Wild 1979).