Fundamentals

of Crop Science
Crop Science I
Lecture 5
RESPIRATION
Respiration:
Harvesting Chemical Energy
 RESPIRATION
CELLULAR
Cellular Respiration is a chemical process
that harvests energy from organic
molecules
Cellular Respiration occurs in
the mitochondria
The products of cellular respiration, CO2
and H2O, are used in photosynthesis
Essential Functions
Plants need energy to perform
many essential functions
growth, repair, nutrient
movement, reproduction, &
nutrient transport.
Cellular Respiration

Provides energy for growth and

maintenance
expends >50% of photosynthetic yield
occurs at higher rates in different tissues
and during reproductive growth
influenced by environmental factors
3 Main Stages
All of the reactions involved in cellular respiration
can be grouped into three main stages:

1. Glycolysis
2. The Krebs cycle
3. ELectron Transport Systen (ETS)
1. GLYCOLYSIS

- syn. anaerobic pathway,

Embden-Meyerhof pathway
- partial sugar oxidation to 3C compounds
- substrate-level phosphorylation
2. Citric Acid Cycle
syn. Tricarbocylic acid cycle, Kreb’s cycle
complete oxidation of 3C compounds from gly

3. Electron transport chain

-utilization of electrons to generate energy,
which is stored as ATP, also called “oxidative
phosphorylation”
Cytosol Mitochondrion

High-energy High-energy
electrons electrons carried
carried mainly by
by NADH NADH

Glycolysis
Citric Acid
2 Cycle Electron
Pyruvic Transport
Glucose
acid
 Glycolysis
breaks a six-carbon glucose into two
three-carbon molecules
These molecules then donate high
energy electrons to NAD+, forming
NADH
A molecule of glucose is split into two
molecules of pyruvic acid
 2 Pyruvic acid

Glucose
Cytosol Mitochondrion

High-energy High-energy
electrons electrons carried
carried mainly by
by NADH NADH

Glycolysis
Citric Acid
2 Cycle Electron
Pyruvic Transport
Glucose
acid
 Fermentation:
Anaerobic Respiration
 Fermentation:
Anaerobic Respiration
2 ADP+ 2

Glycolysis

2 NAD+
2 NAD+
Glucose
2 Pyruvic + 2 H+
acid 2 Lactic
acid

(a) Lactic acid fermentation

 Fermentation:
Anaerobic Respiration
2 ADP+ 2
2 CO2 released
2 ATP
Glycolysis

2 NAD+ 2 NAD+

+ 2 H+ 2 Ethyl
Glucose 2 Pyruvic
alcohol
acid

(b) Alcoholic fermentation

Cytosol Mitochondrion

High-energy High-energy
electrons electrons carried
carried mainly by
by NADH NADH

Glycolysis
2 Citric Acid Electron
Pyruvic Cycle Transport
Glucose
acid
 2. Citric Acid
completes the breakdown of sugar

Cycle
The cycle extracts the energy of sugar
by breaking the acetic acid molecules
all the way down to CO2
The cycle also forms NADH and FADH2
3. Electron Transport
Electron transport releases the energy needed
to make the most of their ATP
The molecules of electron transport chains are
built into the inner membranes of
mitochondria
The chain functions as a chemical machine that uses energy
released by the “fall” of electrons to pump hydrogen ions
across the inner mitochondrial membrane
These ions store potential energy
Cellular respiration can “burn” other
kinds of molecules besides glucose
During germination in oil-storing seeds-
stored lipids are metabolized to carbohydrate
through the glyoxylate cycle (glyoxysomes)
 Respiration
Sugars are broken down to CO2
The electrical energy captured for sugar
degradation is converted to ATP
Aerobic respiration provides the bulk of
plant energy for growth
The respiratory pathway is controlled by its
own metabolites
Respiration is coupled to other pathways
 30-60% of the daily gain in photosynthetic carbon is lost to
respiration, values tended to decrease with plant age
Young trees- 33%; old- 67%; Ps/nonPs=decrease
Tropical areas- 70-80% lost to Rn due to high night time
respiration rates; high night temperature
Factors affecting respiration
1. nature and age of tissues
Different tissues and organs respire at different rates
The greater the overall metabolic activity of a given tissue, the higher its
respiration rate, young tissue has higher respiration than older tissue
Developing buds show very high rates of respiration
Rn rates of vegetative tissues decreases from growing tip to more
differentiated regions
At maturity, Rn rate remain constant or decrease slowly as the tissue ages
and senesces
Exception- in climacteric fruits(banana, mango, avocado)- marked
increased in Rn on the onset of ripening.
Respiration in Climacteric fruits
Environmental Factors affecting respiration
1. Oxygen
concentration-
respiration decreases
when oxygen
decreases.
-under no oxygen,
anaerobic respiration
occurs.
 Environmental factors
2. Temperature
respiration decreases when temperature decreases.

-respiration ceases at about freezing temperatures (32 F)

Q10 – increase in respiration for every 10C increase in temperature

-increasing temperature increases respiration, until temperature
gets too high, then respiration decreases when tissue deteriorates
 Environmental factors

3. Carbon dioxide-respiration decreases when carbon

dioxide increases
4. Damage-wounded, damaged or infected tissue has
higher respiration than healthy tissue
5. Water content-dry tissue has decreased respiration;
for example, dry seeds
 How to minimize
Low temperature Storage

respiration?
Lowering temperature to retard deterioration
during the storage fruits and vegetables
Potatoes – stored at 7-9C
Pechay – 5C
Caution!!!Freezing injury/chilling injury
Drying
-reducing seed moisture content
 How to minimize
Controlled Atmosphere Storage

respiration?
-high CO2 (approx. 2-5%)
-low O2 (approx. 3%)
-low temperature (approx. 32 F)
-high humidity (approx. 90%)
-ethylene removed (scrubbed)
Hypobaric Storage
-similar to controlled atmosphere storage, plus has low pressure
(light vacuum) to reduce 02 and remove ethylene from the
container and from inside the plant tissue
1. Rice has the ________ photosynthetic pathway.
2. The first stable product of C3 photosynthesis.
3. The first stable product of C4 photosynthesis.
4. The initial CO2 acceptor for C3 photosynthesis.
5. The initial CO2 acceptor for C4 photosynthesis
thank you
AGRI 31 Lecture 05