Bean plants Phaseolus vulgaris L. (cv. Carioca and Negro Huasteco) and Vigna unguiculata L. Walp (cv. Epace-10) were grown in a growth chamber with a photosynthetic photon flux density of 200 μmol m-2 s-1 at leaf level and air temperature of 25+1 °C. Fully expanded, first pair leaves of 12-d-old plants were submitted for 90 min to high temperature (25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 48 °C). Chlorophyll a fluorescence parameters (ETR, qP, qN, and F0) were investigated using a modulated fluorimeter at 25 °C during recovery considered here as 48 h after stress induction period. An accentuated decrease in qP and an increase in qN at 48 °C in Carioca and Negro Huasteco was not observed in Epace-10. In response to excitation irradiance a great potential for ETR was found in Negro Huasteco at 25 °C, also demonstrated by net photosynthetic rate. At 48 °C ETR was high for Epace-10 while it was equal to zero for Carioca and Negro Huasteco. Tolerance to high temperature observed in Epace-10 provided important information about the adaptative characteristics of Vigna cultivars to warm climates. and E. S. Costa ... [et al.].
Primary leaves of young plants of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris cv. Carioca and Negro Huasteco) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata Walp cv. Epace 10) were exposed to high irradiance (HI) of 2 000 µmol m-2 s-1 for 10, 20, and 30 min. The initial fluorescence (F0) was nearly constant in response to HI in each genotype except for Carioca. A distinct reduction of maximum fluorescence (Fm) was clearly observed in stressed genotypes of beans after 20 min followed by a slight recovery for the longer stress times. In common bean, the maximum quantum yield (Fv/Fm) was reduced slowly from 10 to 30 min of HI. In cowpea, only a slight reduction of Fv/Fm was observed at 20 min followed by recovery to normal values at 30 min. HI resulted in changes in the photochemical (qP) and non-photochemical (qN) quenching in both species, but to a different extent. In cowpea plants, more efficiency in the use of the absorbed energy under photoinhibitory conditions was related to increase in qP and decrease in qN. In addition, lipid peroxidation changed significantly in common bean genotypes with an evident increase after 20 min of HI. Hence the photosynthetic apparatus of cowpea was more tolerant to HI than that of common bean and the integrity of cowpea cell membranes was apparently maintained under HI. and L. C. S. Ferreira ... [et al.].