Photosynthetic activity of leaves and non-leaf green organs of plants belonging to different families

The photosynthetic activity of the leaf and non-leaf green organs of plants belonging to different families, i.e., Luffa acutamgula, Trichosanthes dioica, Lycopersieon esculentum, Capsicum frutescens, Abelmoschus esculentus, Helianthus animus, Jatropha gossyptfolia and Mangifera indica were examined. Leaves were invariably found to be photosynthetically more active than non-leaf organs like fruit walls, stem, stipule or calyx. While this may be partly due to higher chlorophyll content of the leaves, isolated chloroplasts of fruit walls of several plants as also of cotyledons of Cucurbita moschata and of calyx of Helianthus animus were more efficient than leaf chloroplasts. These observations suggest the presence of photosynthetic inhibitor in non-leaf organs which limit the photosynthetic rate in vivo and are removed during isolation of chloroplasts.