Convergence of daily light use efficiency in irrigated and rainfed C3 and C4 crops

The goal of this study is to quantify variability of daily light use efficiency (LUE) based on radiation absorbed by photosynthetically active vegetation (LUEgreen) in C3 and C4 crops. Data contained GPP, fAPAR, total and green leaf area index taken over 16 site years of irrigated and rainfed maize and 8 site years of soybean in 2001–2008 including years with quite strong drought events. LUEgreen in irrigated and rainfed sites were statistically indistinguishable showing low sensitivity to water availability. Seasonal changes of LUEgreen remained remarkably small over a wide range of water supply, leaf area index and weather conditions. The magnitude and composition of incident radiation affected the magnitude of the day-to-day LUEgreen change – increases in incident PAR caused statistically significant decreases of LUEgreen. Convergence of LUEgreen to a narrow range in irrigated and rainfed crops brought important implications for understanding mechanisms of plant response to stress and remote estimation of primary production in crops. •Constitutive and facultative changes of LUE in C3 and C4 crops were quantified.•Daily LUE was stable across seasons in irrigated and rainfed crops.•Seasonal changes of LUE remained remarkably small.•Day-to-day changes of LUE oscillate around an almost horizontal line.•Magnitude of LUE significantly increased with decrease of incident radiation.