Chlorophyll content and photosystem II efficiency in soybean exposed to supplemental ultraviolet-B radiation

Chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence parameters and rapid light curves of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] were measured by pulse amplitude modulation fluorometry. Measurements were taken during different stages of soybean growth under field conditions with 20% enhancement in ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation. Results showed that supplemental UV-B radiation decreased Chl contents by 5.5% (P=0.048), 8.7% (P=0.046), and 10.5% (P=0.005) in seedling, in branching-flowering, and in pod-setting stages, respectively. In the branching-flowering and pod-setting stages, maximum quantum yield of photosystem (PS) II photochemistry (F_v/F_m) decreased by 6.1% (P=0.001) and 3.0% (P=0.009), respectively. Supplemental UV-B radiation significantly decreased the effective quantum yield (Y). The photosynthetic capacity at light saturation (P_m) also decreased in both the seedling and branching-flowering stages by 28.9% (P=0.007) and 15.5% (P=0.041), respectively. However, Y and Pm showed no significant difference in the trefoil and pod-setting stages with and without the UV treatment. The light saturation parameter (E _k) decreased by 21.1% (P=0.000) and 23.2% (P=0.029) in the trefoil and seedling stages, respectively. Moreover, the initial slope (α) decreased by 21.1% (P=0.001) in the branching-flowering stage. Nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) in the seedling stage and photochemical quenching coefficient (q_p) in the branching-flowering stage decreased significantly under UV-B treatments. The results of the present study suggest that supplemental UV-B radiation adversely affected Chl content and electron transport activity in PSII and consequently decreased the photosynthetic efficiency of soybean plants.