Visualizing Chlorophyll a Fluorescence: A Practical Demonstration
Ali Ahmad – University of Granada - ORCID
Santiago Atero Calvo – University of Granada - ORCID
Begoña Blasco León – University of Granada - ORCID
Safa Selmi – Association of Safeguard of Matmata - University of Gabes - ORCID
Alessandro Candiani – DNAPhone SRL - ORCID
Vanessa Martos Núñez – University of Granada - ORCID
Abstract
Chlorophylls are the principal components of plants for light harvesting. They utilize the energy retrieved from solar radiations to carry out the process of photosynthesis and produce reduced organic compounds such as carbohydrates. However, all of the incident light is not used in photosynthesis process, it confronts two other fates. A part of it is dissipated as heat, whereas the other is emitted as fluorescence. These processes occur simultaneously and whether one or the other occurs to a greater or lesser extent will depend both on the physiological status of the plant and the environmental conditions it faces. Chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence is inversely proportional to the yield of photosynthesis and therefore is of prime importance in plant physiology. Furthermore, there are a lot of studies where Chl a fluorescence has been used as a probe for estimating photosynthetic yield, drought, salinity, vigor, and environmental effects on crop production yield. Therefore, this study was undertaken to demonstrate the visualization of the light emitted from Chl, commonly known as Chl a fluorescence. Plant leaves were dark adopted for 20 minutes before their exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light. Red glasses were used to visualize the emitted red light (fluorescence) from the leaves. This study may instill further interest in the plant physiology students to deepen and expand their learning by undertaking simple demonstrations like this.
Keyword: Chlorophyll a Fluorescence
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