RADIATION AND CARBON USE EFFICIENCY OF FIELD-GROWN JUTE (CORCHORUS SPP) IN RELATION TO POTENTIAL PRIMARY PRODUCTION

Potential daily biomass production of jute was calculated from the con version of measured incident photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) during t he jute growing season (April - August) of Indo-Bangladesh sub-contine nt and evaluating the average respiratory loss over the same period. T aking an average incident PPF of 39.87 mol(photon) m-2 d-1, the potent ial daily rate of dry matter production of 49.77 g m-2 was estimated w ith a photosynthetic efficiency of 1.25 g mol-1. Considering the daily production rate as proportional to the amount of radiant energy inter ception by the crop at different stages of growth, a maximum jute biom ass production capacity of 4.081 kg m-2 (40.81 t ha-1) was estimated. This value was little more than two times the average production obtai ned from the field experiment under similar conditions. Radiation use efficiency of a closed jute canopy (3.5 g MJ-1), however, appears to h ave reached that for any field crop.