PLSCS 5130

Physiology of Crop Productivity

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2021-2022.

This course will provide you with background on plant responses to some of the most important abiotic environmental factors (light, temperature, water supply, soil environment) that impact crop performance. We will study the processes involved in the conversion of solar energy into harvested plant products, and environmental constraints on crop productivity. We will learn about ways that plants can adapt to their environment to more fully capture light, maintain light use efficiency, adjust growth and flowering in response to temperature, and respond to variations in water supply. Acclimation responses and genetic adaptation will be examined for temperature, light, water, compacted soil, and mineral nutrient environments. Topics include photosynthesis and essential processes that utilize photosynthetic energy and fixed carbon, including nitrogen assimilation, phloem translocation and partitioning; canopy-scale influences on solar radiation use efficiency; regulation of growth processes in leaf, development of root, floral, and grain/seed sinks in response to environment; fruit and seed set; water transport and stomatal regulation; root growth in flooded and compacted soils; N2 fixation and mycorrhiza symbioses.

When Offered Spring.

• Describe the cellular and organismal processes of plants and relate those processes to evolution, diversity and ecology.
• Convey to professional and lay audiences, information about the impact of weather, climate, and soil factors on crop production.
• Conduct experiments in field and laboratory.
• Express scientific questions as testable hypotheses based on a synthesis of current understanding and resources.
• Debate the biological and ethical consequences of future advances in Plant Science, especially in the areas of genetic engineering, biofuels, and climate change.
• Describe the impact that crop physiology and ecology have on crop production in the face of climate change and increased human population.
• Explain and evaluate an independent project of your own design that utilizes the principles learned in this class.

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