Responses of Rice Growth to Day and Night Temperature and Relative Air Humidity—Leaf Elongation and Assimilation

Predictions of future crop growth and yield under a changing climate require a precise knowledge of plant responses to their environment. Since leaf growth increases the photosynthesizing area of the plant, it occupies a central position during the vegetative phase. Rice is cultivated in diverse ecological zones largely differing in temperature and relative air humidity (RH). To investigate the effects of temperature and RH during day and night on leaf growth, one variety (IR64) was grown in a growth chamber using 9 day/night regimes around the same mean temperature and RH, which were combinations of 3 temperature treatments (30/20 °C, 25/25 °C, 20/30 °C day/night temperature) and 3 RH treatments (40/90%, 65/65%, 90/40% day/night RH). Day/night leaf elongation rates (LER) were measured and compared to leaf gas exchange measurements and leaf area expansion on the plant level. While daytime LER was mainly temperature-dependent, nighttime LER was equally affected by temperature and RH and closely correlated with leaf area expansion at the plant level. We hypothesize that the same parameters increasing LER during the night also enhance leaf area expansion via shifts in partitioning to larger and thinner leaves. Further, base temperatures estimated from LERs varied with RH, emphasizing the need to take RH into consideration when modeling crop growth in response to temperature.