Comparison of photosynthetic and leaf anatomical characteristics of five superior Camellia oleifera clones

To provide a reference for further screening superior Camellia oleifera clones with high photosynthetic efficiency,nine-year plants from five superior C.oleifera clones(‘Xianglin' series XL210,XL82,XL190,X L81,XL14) were selected,and their leaf anatomical characteristics and photosynthetic parameters were observed and determined in July 2013.The results showed that the diurnal change of net photosynthetic rate(Pn) of XL14 was a unimodal curve,but other clones were bimodal curves.Peak value and occurring time were different among the clones.The order based on diurnal average Pn from high to low was XL14,XL81,XL82,XL210,XL190,and average oil production per unit area of all clones were increased with Pn rising.Pn had significant positive correlations with chlorophyll a,chlorophyll(a + b) and chlorophyll(a/b).Leaf anatomical characteristics were significantly different among five clones,ratio of palisade tissue to leaf thickness and ratio of palisade tissue to spongy tissue were significantly positive correlated with Pn and oil production per unit area.