Acta Agriculturae Zhejiangensis ›› 2022, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (9): 1935-1944.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-1524.2022.09.12

• Horticultural Science • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of exogenous melatonin on chlorophyll fluorescence and antioxidant system of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) under low temperature and low light stress

DING Dongxia(), LI Nenghui, LI Jing, TANG Chaonan, WANG Cheng, NIU Tianhang, YANG Yan, YANG Haitao, XIE Jianming()   

  1. College of Horticulture, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China
  • Received:2021-03-17 Online:2022-09-25 Published:2022-09-30
  • Contact: XIE Jianming

Abstract:

In this study, pepper variety Longjiao 10 was used as the material. The different concentrations of melatonin including 0 (T1), 50 (T2), 100 (T3), 150 (T4), 200 (T5), 250 (T6) μmol·L-1 were sprayed at seedling stage, and chlorophyll content, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, relative conductivity, soluble sugar, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, and antioxidant enzyme activity of pepper seedlings under low temperature and low light stress were determined. The results showed that 7 day after treatment with low temperature and low light stress (15 ℃/5 ℃, 100 μmol·m-2·s-1), after exogenous application of 100 μmol·L-1 melatonin solution (T3), total chlorophyll content and soluble sugar content increased by 25.72% and 52.88% respectively, compared with T1. The actual photochemical efficiency Y(), the photochemical quenching coefficient qP, photochemical quenching qL increased by 43.79%, 36.99% and 33.88%, separately. The superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) activities were increased significantly by 66.31%, 56.65% while the superoxide anion content and relative conductivity decreased by 48.40% and 17.54%, respectively. In summary, the application of melatonin on the leaves of pepper under low temperature and low light stress could improve the chlorophyll content, chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics and antioxidant capacity, and increase the content of soluble sugar to increase the stress resistance of the plants. The best melatonin concentration was 100 μmol·L-1.

Key words: melatonin, pepper, low temperature and low light, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, antioxidant enzymes

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