A high-performance system of multiple gas-exchange chambers with a laser spectrometer to estimate leaf photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, and mesophyll conductance

Direct measurements of ecophysiological processes such as leaf photosynthesis are often hampered due to the excessive time required for gas-exchange measurements and the limited availability of multiple gas analyzers. Although recent advancements in commercially available instruments have improved the ability to take measurements more conveniently, the amount of time required for each plant sample to acclimate to chamber conditions has not been sufficiently reduced. Here we describe a system of multiple gas-exchange chambers coupled with a laser spectrometer that employs tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) to measure leaf photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, and mesophyll conductance. Using four gas-exchange chambers minimizes the time loss associated with acclimation for each leaf sample. System operation is semiautomatic, and leaf temperature, humidity, and CO2 concentration can be regulated and monitored remotely by a computer system. The preliminary results with rice leaf samples demonstrated that the system is capable of high-throughput measurements, which is necessary to obtain better representativeness of the ecophysiological characteristics of plant samples.