Seasonal relationships between leaf nitrogen content (photosynthetic capacity) and leaf canopy light exposure in peach (Prunus persica)

Abstract Field gas exchange measurements on intact peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) leaves indicate that leaf nitrogen content (NL) and leaf weight per unit leaf area (Wa) are highly correlated with CO2 assimilation rate (A) and mesophyll conductance (gm). Therefore, NL and Wa were used to study seasonal relationships between leaf carboxylation capacity and natural light exposure in tree canopies. From mid‐season onwards, NL and Wa were linearly correlated with light exposure expressed as the amount of time during a clear day that a leaf was exposed to a photosynthetic photon flux density (Q) of ≥ 100 μmol m−2 s−1. The data support the hypothesis that whole‐tree photosynthesis is optimized by partitioning of photosynthetic capacity among leaves in deciduous tree canopies with respect to natural light exposure.