Question

Suppose there were plants that had a high concentration of chlorophyll b,but lacked chlorophyll a,would it carry out photosynthesis?Then why do plants have chlorophyll b and other accessory pigments?

Answer 1

Chlorophyll b can also alone carry out photosynthesis but the rate will be lower than chlorophyll a. The absorption spectrum of chl b is such. Though when present in association with chl a , the accessory pigments increase the rate of photosynthesis by absorption of light from more than one spectrum range.