Welcome to Acta Prataculturae Sinica ! Today is Share:

Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2016, Vol. 25 ›› Issue (8): 81-90.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2015563

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of temperature stress on growth and metabolism in perennial ryegrass

WANG Ri-Ming1, 2, XIONG Xing-Yao1, *   

  1. 1.College of Horticulture & Landscape, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China;
    2.Huaihua Vocational and Technical College, Huaihua 418000, China
  • Received:2015-12-14 Revised:2016-04-07 Online:2016-08-20 Published:2016-08-20

Abstract: In order to investigate the effects of high temperatures on growth, leaf membrane stability, chlorophyll content, photosynthesis, endogenous hormones and carbohydrate metabolism, two perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) cultivars with contrasting heat tolerance, ‘Premier’ (tolerant) and ‘Pinnacle’ (sensitive) were selected and treated under optimum (25 ℃/20 ℃) and high (35 ℃/30 ℃) temperatures in growth chambers for 21 days. The results demonstrated that leaf electrolyte leakage and abscisic acid (ABA) content increased while plant growth, chlorophyll content, photosynthesis and endogenous hormones auxin (IAA), gibberellin (GA3) and cytokinin (ZR) decreased under high temperature, more so in Pinnacle than in Premier. Soluble sugars and fructans increased and subsequently decreased with prolonged temperature treatment, while starch content decreased in both cultivars under high temperature, but Premier maintained relatively high starch content compared to Pinnacle. Accumulating or maintaining high phytohormones levels, including ABA, GA3, IAA and ZR, and carbohydrates including soluble sugars and fructans associated with cellular osmotic homeostasis and membrane stability, delayed leaf senescence, protecting photosynthetic apparatus from heat damage and maintaining photosynthetic capacity may all contribute to heat tolerance in perennial ryegrass.