Effect of Exclusion of Solar UV radiation on Plants

UV exclusion studies can provide the realistic assessments of sensitivity of plant to current level of UV radiation. Perusal of relevant literature reveals that UV exclusion causes enormous increase in the growth of aerial parts along with below ground parts of the plants. Exclusion of UV-B (280-315 nm) and UV-A+B (280-400 nm) enhanced the photosynthetic pigments, net photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance along with remarkable increase in the activity of Carbonic anhydrase, Rubisco and PEPCase. UV excluded plants have higher PS II efficiency, reducing power, CO2 fixation and decreased UV-B absorbing compounds, channeling the additional fixation of carbon to improvement of yield. UV exclusion studies indicate that dicot plants are more sensitive than the monocot plants to current level of UV-B.