Digital measurement of heliotropic leaf response in soybean cultivars and leaf exposure to solar UVB radiation

Inconsistencies in reported sensitivities of soybean cultivars [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] to enhanced ultraviolet-B (UVB) irradiance may in part be due to differences in the radiative environment of the experimental conditions or differences in exposure due to heliotropic response. In order to examine the impact of heliotropic movement on UVB exposure of the soybean upper trifoliate, leaf position was electronically recorded and inclination and azimuthal position of the leaves calculated for three soybean cultivars—Bay, York, and Williams 82—under greenhouse and field conditions. The UVB exposures of the top trifoliate of three soybean cultivars were modeled using anisotropic and isotropic sky radiance distributions. The Williams 82 cv. produced the greatest variation in leaf angle with solar zenith angle of the three cultivars, averaging between 19 and 47°, compared with a lower 10–27° range for York and Bay cultivars. The incidence angle data for the upper trifoliates of the field plants were not significantly different from the greenhouse plants. For clear sky conditions, overall exposure differences indicated that the Bay cultivar receives more UVB than the York or Williams 82 cultivars, in large part due to the higher variation in heliotropic movement shown by the Bay cultivar in response to the sun location.