The photosynthetic response of C₃ and C₄ bioenergy grass species to fluctuating light

Bioenergy grass species are a renewable energy source, but their productivity has not been fully realized. Improving photosynthetic efficiency has been proposed as a mechanism to increase the productivity of bioenergy grass species. Fluctuating light, experienced by all field grown crops, is known to reduce photosynthetic efficiency. This experiment aimed to evaluate the photosynthetic performance of both C₃ and C₄ bioenergy grass species under steady state and fluctuating light conditions by examining leaf gas exchange. The fluctuating light regime used here decreased carbon assimilation across all species when compared to expected steady state values. Overall, C₄ species assimilated more carbon than C₃ species during the fluctuating light regime, with both photosynthetic types assimilating about 16% less carbon than expected based on steady state measurements. Little diversity was observed in response to fluctuating light among C₃ species, and photorespiration partially contributed to the rapid decreases in net photosynthetic rates during high to low light transitions. In C₄ species, differences among the four NADP-ME species were apparent. Diversity observed among C₄ species in this experiment provides evidence that photosynthetic efficiency in response to fluctuating light may be targeted to increase C₄ bioenergy grass productivity.