question_answer 5)

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

Answer:

Though chlorophyll is the major pigment responsible for trapping light, other thylakoid pigmenis like chlorophyll-b, xanthophylls and carotenoids, which are called accessory pigments, also absorb light and transfer the energy to chlorophyll-a. Indeed, they not only enable a wider range of wavelength of incoming light to be utilized for photosynthesis but also protect chlorophyll-a from photo oxidation.