Jatropha curcas, one of the most important energy plant resources, is vulnerable to chilling. To evaluate the effects of chilling on photosynthesis of J. curcas and intraspecific differences in chilling tolerance, seedlings of twelve populations were treated with the temperature of 4-6°C for five consecutive nights with normal environmental temperature during the day. Night chilling treatment decreased light-saturated photosynthetic rate (Pmax) significantly for all populations. Stomatal limitation could not explain the decreased Pmax because intracellular CO2 concentration was not significantly reduced by night chilling in all populations (with only one exception). The decreased soluble-protein content, which may be related to the increased malondialdehyde (MDA) content, contributed to the decreased Pmax. The increased MDA content indicated that oxidative stress occurred after night chilling, which was associated with the larger decrease in Pmax compared with the decrease in actual photochemical efficiency of photosystem II, and the slight increase in thermal dissipation of excessive energy. After five-day recovery, MDA (with two exceptions) and Pmax still did not recover to the levels as those before night chilling treatment for all populations, indicating that J. curcas was vulnerable to chilling. Chilling tolerance was significantly different among populations. Populations originating from high elevations had greater chilling-tolerant abilities than populations originating from low elevations, showing a local adaptation to environmental temperatures of origins. Our study shed light on the possibility to find or breed chilling-tolerant genotypes of J. curcas. and Y.-L. Zheng ... [et al.].
The rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) is an important tropical crop with a high economic value that has been successfully cultivated in Xishuangbanna, China. Xishuangbanna has a long dry season (November-February) with cold nights and frequent fog events. Thus, it is important to select chilling-tolerant cultivars in order to understand better the role of fog in protecting rubber tree from chilling-induced photodamage. In this study, we examined the photosynthetic responses of six rubber tree cultivars (Lan 873, Yunyan 77-2, Yunyan 77-4, GT1, Reken 523, and Reyan 733-97) to night-chilling stress (0, 5, and 10°C) and two different irradiances (100 and 50% of full sunlight). Our results showed that all six cultivars could withstand nights at 10°C for three days, while night chilling at 0 and 5°C impaired photosynthesis, which was indicated by photoinhibition, decrease of soluble protein content, and accumulation of malondialdehyde. Reken 523 and Reyan 733-97 were more sensitive to night chilling than other cultivars. Low irradiance (50% of full sunlight) after the chilling treatment apparently mitigated the effect of night-chilling stress. It indicates that frequent fog events after cold nights might greatly contribute to the success of rubber tree cultivation in Xishuangbanna., Y.-H. Tian, H.-F. Yuan, J. Xie, J.-W. Deng, X.-S. Dao, Y.-L. Zheng., and Seznam literatury