Greenhouse and field cucumber genotypes use different mechanisms to protect against dark chilling
Yan-Hong Zhou A , Li-Feng Huang A , Yao-Shun Du A and Jing-Quan Yu A BA Department of Horticulture, Huajiachi Campus, Zhejiang University, Kaixuan Road 268, Hangzhou, PR China 310 029.
B Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plants Growth, Development and Biotechnology, Agricultural Ministry of China, Kaixuan Road 268, Hangzhou, PR China 310 029. Corresponding author. Email: yu@mail.hz.zj.cn
Functional Plant Biology 31(12) 1215-1223 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP04045
Submitted: 29 February 2004 Accepted: 23 September 2004 Published: 8 December 2004
Abstract
Diurnal changes in photosynthetic gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence were measured after two consecutive night chills to reveal the photosynthetic characteristics and the mechanism of photoprotection in a greenhouse genotype Jinyou No. 3 (GH), and in a field genotype Jinyan No. 4 (OF) of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). Both genotypes showed inhibition of CO2 assimilation immediately after the dark chill, with OF exhibiting a greater reduction. Dark chilling had little effect on stomatal limitation (l) and RuBP regeneration (Jmax) but significantly decreased maximum carboxylation velocity of Rubisco (Vcmax). The reduced capacity for CO2 fixation in the Calvin cycle induced a downstream regulation of PSII photochemistry, a mechanism that regulates the photosynthetic electron transport to match the lower demand for ATP and NADPH in the stroma of chloroplasts. The reduced quantum efficiency of PSII photochemistry was mainly due to reductions both in the photochemical quenching coefficient (qP) and in the efficiency of excitation energy capture by open PSII reaction centres (Fv′ / Fm′) for OF, but only to the latter for GH. Night chills resulted in an enhanced photorespiration proportion in GH and an O2-dependent alternative electron flux in OF, which served as protective mechanisms for the two varieties. These results showed that there are genotypic differences in the limitation factor for CO2 assimilation and in photo-protection mechanism to night chill in cucumber.
Keywords: chlorophyll fluorescence, CO2 assimilation, Cucumis sativus, electron transport, overnight chilling.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30325029), National Outstanding Youth Foundation (30230250), 863 plan, Excellent Teacher Foundation of China, and Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province as a special project. We thank Professor Jeff Weidenhamer of Ashland University for critically reviewing the manuscript.
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