Indian Journal of Plant Physiology
Year : 2010, Volume : 15, Issue : 2
First page : ( 192) Last page : ( 197)
Print ISSN : 0019-5502. Online ISSN : 0974-0252.

Chilling induced superoxide production, lipid peroxidation and leakage loss in Shorea robusta seedlings

Keshavkant S.*, Naithani S.C.

School of Life Sciences, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur-492 010, India.

*Corresponding author, E-mail: skeshavkant@gmail.com.

Received:  8  December,  2009; Revised:  14  May,  2010.

Summary

Aerial parts of the chilling sensitive young sal (Shorea robusta) seedlings showed excess generation of active oxygen species (AOS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in response to exposure of chilling temperature (9–14.1°C) during November to March in field conditions. Approximately 5–6 fold increase in AOS was estimated in aerial parts of chilling exposed seedlings than the control (greenhouse) seedlings. Accumulation of AOS was found to be closely associated with the rise in MDA in leaf (4.4 fold) and shoot (3.8 fold) tissues, whereas, control seedlings exhibited insignificant accumulation of both. Chilling exposed seedlings also showed significant promotion in the leakage loss of organic (protein) and inorganic (K⁺and Ca⁺⁺) electrolytes from leaf and shoot tissues, but an insignificant leakage of electrolytes was recorded in greenhouse seedlings. The field grown sal seedlings (exposed to chilling) revealed a strong positive correlation between the rates of AOS and MDA accumulation (r = 0.98**) and also between magnitude of MDA levels and leakage loss of various electrolytes (r = 0.99**), during chilling periods. Our results clearly showed that leaf and shoot of field grown sal seedlings are severely damaged due to chilling stress, whereas, the protected (greenhouse) seedlings are showing vigorous growth during same periods of analysis.

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Key words

Chilling injury, leakage loss, malondialdehyde, Shorea robusta, superoxide.

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