Abscisic acid and mefluidide in the regulation of cold hardiness development in Solanum tuberosum L. potato

Plants of Solanum tuberosum L. potato do not cold acclimate when exposed to low temperature such as 5°C, day/night. When ABA (45 M) was added to the culture medium, stem-cultured plantlets of S. tuberosum, cv. Red Pontiac, either grown at 20°C/15°C, day/night, or at 5°C, increased in cold hardiness from –2°C (killing temperature) to –4.5°C. The increase in cold hardiness could be inhibited in both temperature regimes if cycloheximide (70 M) was added to the culture medium at the inception of ABA treatment. Cycloheximide did not inhibit cold hardiness development, however, when it was added to the culture medium 3 days after ABA treatment.When pot-grown plants were foliar sprayed with mefluidide (50 M), ABA content increased from 10 nmol to 30 nmol g^–1 dry weight and plants increased in cold hardiness from –2°C to about –3.5°C. The increases in free ABA and cold hardiness occurred only in plants grown at 20°C/15°C; neither ABA nor cold hardiness increased in plants grown at 5°C.The results suggest that an increase in ABA and a subsequent de novo synthesis of proteins are required for the development of cold hardiness in S. tuberosum regardless of temperature regime, and that the inability to synthesize ABA at low temperature, rather than protein synthesis, appears to be the reason why S. tuberosum does not cold acclimate.     

Mefluidide对玉米叶片线粒体膜脂组成的影响及其与抗冷力的关系

Mcfluidide叶面喷洒处理玉米幼苗,常温下可提高叶片线粒体膜脂中磷脂酰胆碱含量和脂肪酸中亚油酸含量,降低棕榈酸含量。当处理和未处理幼苗在5℃低温下生长6d期间,两者的磷脂酰胆碱含量均随低温时间的延长而递减,但处理苗的含量一直高于对照苗的含量。对照苗的亚油酸含量亦随低温时间的延长而递减,处理苗的亚油酸含量则在6d低温期间基本保持稳定,且一直高于对照。对照苗的棕榈酸含量随低温时间延长而递增,处理苗表现为短期低温棕榈酸含量降低,长期低温含量增加,但仍较对照为低,因而处理苗的脂肪酸不饱和度和亚油酸/棕榈酸比值始终高于对照苗。     

Futher Study of the Mefluidide-lnduced Chilling Tolerance in Corn Seedlings

Corn seedlings (cv. Dandong 2), at 3 leaf-age, were foliar sprayed with 15ppm mefluidide and held at 25℃ regime for 24h. The seedlings were then chilled at 5℃ for 6 days, after which they were returned to the 25℃ regime for recovery. Leaf conductivity was done on plants at o time, just prior to chilling, 3 and 6 days after chilling, and 3 clays after recovery. During the entire period of experiment (from o-time to recovery), the conductivity of the treated plants was at a more or less constant level of 15%, Whereas the control increased from 15% to about 50% 6 days after chilling as well as well as 3 days after recovery. Our results strongly suggest that the treated plants were not injured during a 6-day chilling exposure, while the control was progressively injured. Mitochondria were isolated from plants at o-time treatment, after 34 h treatment at 25℃, 3 and 6 days after chilling, and 3 days after recovery. Succinic dehydrogenase anct ATPase were extracted from the mitochondria. Activities of both enzymes were measured at 25℃. There was a marked increase in activity of both enzymes in either treated plants or controls 3 days after chilling. However, the increase was significantly higher in the treated plants than those in the control. Activities were decreased at 6 days after chilling. The decrease in the control was. significantly greater than those in the treated Plants. ATPase activity was measured over a range of temperatures from 5˚ to 35℃. There were two distinguished break points on the Arrhenius plots for ATPase activation energy in the treated plants. One was at about 20℃ and the other was at about 10℃. However, the control only showed one break point at 15℃. There was a 5℃ difference between the control and treated plants. Albeit the significance of a 5℃ difference in activation of energy in terms of increased chilling tolerance is debatable, it does suggest that mefluidide treatment may alter the property of corn mitochondrial membrane.     

Effects of synthetic plant growth retardants and abscisic acid on root functions of Brassica rapa plants exposed to low root-zone temperature

Possible interactions of two synthetic plant-growth retardants during the short-term response of Brassica rapa L. ssp. oleifera (DC.) Metzger plants to low root-zone temperature were investigated by pretreating with mefluidide or paclobutrazol. Water and solute transfers were studied by measuring xylem sap volume flow (under root pressure exudation) and ion flow from the roots. Relations with nitrate uptake rate were also considered. Root pretreatment with paclobutrazol strongly restricted the cold-inducible processes which normally restore water and solute flow from the root xylem. Paclobutrazol decreased the rates of nitrate uptake and exudation flow from the root xylem (principally by reducing root hydraulic conductivity) with dramatic consequences for ion flow, especially that of nitrate.
The effects of root ABA pretreatment on plant response to root cooling were then studied separately or in association with a pretreatment with paclobutrazol. Despite a slight decrease in nitrate uptake rate, ABA pretreatment of the roots enabled the plant to develop rapid mechanisms for adaptation to cold constraint at the root level. Moreover, this action of exogenous ABA greatly reduced the effect of a simultaneous paclobutrazol pretreatment and partly restored water and solute flows.
Thus, the improvement of plant resistance to cold conditions brought about by treatments with mefluidide and paclobutrazol (previously shown in long-term experiments) cannot simply be explained by their short-term effects.     

Root development of bermudagrass and tall fescue as affected by cutting interval and growth regulators

A study was conducted to characterize changes in bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon [L.] Pers.) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) root development over time and with depth, and to determine the effects of defoliation interval and chemical seedhead suppression on root and shoot growth. Field plots were established on a fine-silty, mixed mesic Typic Fragiudult soil in Fayetteville, AR, USA, and each plot contained three minirhizotrons (plexiglass observation tubes) to a depth of 40 cm. Images of roots in 10-cm depth increments were periodically videorecorded, and total root length (RL) and root length density (RLD) were measured with a computer-interfaced tracing probe. Treatments consisted of two cutting intervals, 3 and 6 weeks, and two plant growth regulator (PGR) treatments, an untreated control and either 300 g ha^-1 mefluidide on tall fescue in early spring of both years or 10 g ha^-1 each of metsulfuron methyl (MSM) and sulfometuron methyl (SMM) applied in late May of both post-establishment years. Data were analyzed separately for the establishment period (planting to the first date of PGR application) and the subsequent post-establishment period. Bermulagrass exhibited a two-stage root establishment pattern characterized first by minimal root development in conjunction with stolon proliferation and soil surface colonization, followed by accumulation of total RL over two subsequent forage production seasons. There was a net accumulation of root mass during the winter dormancy period of 1986–87. Total RL of tall fescue peaked one and a half years after planting. Cutting interval had no influence on RL and RLD. Application of a PGR did not affect RL but did alter RLD of both species. Application of mefluidide to tall fescue stimulated RLD 64 days after application, whereas bermudagrass RLD was retarded by MSM and SMM up to 50 days after application. Trends in root growth did not closely follow patterns of shoot growth. Published with the approval of the Director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station. Published with the approval of the Director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.