Chlorophyll fluorescence parameters of Quercus pubescens Willd. as response to heat shock (HS) by immersing leaves for 5 and 15 min in water of temperatures between 38 and 59 °C were examined. Fluorescence was measured after different periods of recovery (15, 30, 90, 210, and 1 440 min at 24/26 °C night/day temperature and 100 % humidity). The effective quantum yield of photosystem 2 (Y) in control and HS-treated leaves was always measured after previous 15 min irradiation. Under a 5 min HS, Y did not change after using temperatures below 44 °C, was rapidly restored after HS of moderate temperatures (44-48 °C), and progressively decreased and recovered eventually to the initial value after HS of high temperatures (48-52 °C). Y did not recover after HS with temperatures higher than 52 °C. Increase in the duration of HS from 5 to 15 min lead to change of the initial Y at each HS temperature, but the recovery processes were similar to those characteristic after 5 min incubation. The processes of recovery may depend mainly on the specificity of injuries caused by different heat shock temperatures. Thus Q. pubescens is able to preserve and recover the functional potential of its photosynthetic apparatus in response to HS up to 52 °C. and A. Dascaliuc, T. Ralea, P. Cuza.
Thirty-day-old plants of mustard (Brassica juncea L.) were sprayed with 10-10, 10-8, or 10-6 M aqueous solution of 28-homobrassinolide (HBR). The HBR-treated plants were healthier than those treated with water and yielded more. Maximum increase over control was found in 60-d-old, 10-8 M-HBR-treated plants in fresh and dry mass per plant, carbonic anhydrase (CA, E.C. 4.2.1.1) activity, and net photosynthetic rate (PN), at harvest in number of pods per plant and seed yield per plant (the respective values were 25, 30, 34, 69, 24, and 29 %). A further increase in the concentration of HBR (10-6 M) did not make any additional impact on the growth and yield. Increased CA activity and PN were correlated with growth and seed yield. and S. Hayat ... [et al.].