Study on shade tolerance of 5 Miscanthus ornamental grasses

To study the shade tolerance of Miscanthus,different shading treatments were imposed on the 5 Miscanthus ornamental grasses.The morphological and photosynthetic indexes including plant height,leaf length,leaf width,total chlorophyll content,chlorophyll a,chlorophyll b,chlorophyll a/b,maximum net photosynthetic rate(Pmax),light saturation point(LSP),light compensation point(LCP) and apparent quantum yield(AQY) were measured.The shade tolerance of these tested grasses were ranked.The results showed that shading treatments had effected on their morphological and physiological indexes to different extends.By using membership function to evaluate the shade tolerant ability,the order of the shade tolerance from strong to weak was M.sinensis 'Morning Light',M.sinensis,M.floridulus,M.sinensis 'Variegatus' and M.sinensis 'Gracilimus'.