Effects of fluoride on chlorophyll a fluorescence in spinach.

Chlorophyll a (chl a) fluorescence was used to determine the effects of treatments with gaseous HF or aqueous solutions of NaF on the photosynthetic apparatus of spinach prior to the appearance of visible injury. Placing the petioles in 2 mM NaF for 3 h resulted in the accumulation of 240 ppm F in leaf blades. The second oldest leaves of spinach plants accumulated similar concentrations (270 ppm F) when the plants were exposed to gaseous HF at 5 microg F m(-3) for 6 days. These NaF and HF treatments did not result in visible injury nor did they affect Fo, Fm or Fv/Fm. However, during the slow (>2 s) induction kinetics, fluorescence quenching in fluoride-treated leaves increased during the P to S phase and the M peak was no longer resolved. This was due, in part, to increased photochemical quenching. The results are consistent with a reduced ability to develop or maintain a trans-thylakoid proton gradient in chloroplasts containing elevated concentrations of F.

Developmental history affects the susceptibility of spinach leaves to in vivo low temperature photoinhibition.

Room temperature chlorophyll a fluorescence was used to determine the effects of developmental history, developmental stage, and leaf age on susceptibility of spinach to in vivo low temperature (5 degrees C) induced photoinhibition. Spinach (Spinacia oleracea cv Savoy) leaves expanded at cold hardening temperatures (5 degrees C day/night), an irradiance of 250 micromoles per square meter per second of photosynthetic proton flux density, and a photoperiod of 16 hours were less sensitive than leaves expanded at nonhardening temperatures (16 or 25 degrees C day/night) and the same irradiance and photoperiod. This differential sensitivity to low-temperature photoinhibition was observed at high (1200) but not lower (500 or 800 micromoles per square meter per second) irradiance treatment. In spite of a differential sensitivity to photoinhibition, both cold-hardened and nonhardened spinach exhibited similar recovery kinetics at either 20 or 5 degrees C. Shifting plants grown at 16 degrees C (day/night) to 5 degrees C (day/night) for 12 days after full leaf expansion did not alter the sensitivity to photoinhibition at 5 degrees C. Conversely, shifting plants grown at 5 degrees C (day/night) to 16 degrees C (day/night) for 12 days produced a sensitivity to photoinhibition at 5 degrees C similar to control plants grown at 16 degrees C. Thus, any resistance to low-temperature photoinhibition acquired during growth at 5 degrees C was lost in 12 days at 16 degrees C. We conclude that leaf developmental history, developmental stage, and leaf age contribute significantly to the in vivo photoinhibitory response of spinach. Thus, these characteristics must be defined clearly in studies of plant susceptibility to photoinhibition.

Effect of growth temperature and temperature shifts on spinach leaf morphology and photosynthesis.

The growth kinetics of spinach plants (Spinacia oleracea L. cv Savoy) grown at 5 degrees C or 16 degrees C were determined to allow us to compare leaf tissues of the same developmental stage rather than chronological age. The second leaf pairs reached full expansion at a plant age of 32 and 92 days for the 16 degrees C and 5 degrees C plants, respectively. Growth at 5 degrees C resulted in an increased leaf area, dry weight, dry weight per area, and leaf thickness. Despite these changes, pigment content and composition, room temperature in vivo fluorescence, and apparent quantum yield and light-saturated rates of CO(2) exchange or O(2) evolution were not affected by the growth temperature. Furthermore, 5 degrees C expanded leaves were found to be more resistant to photoinhibition at 5 degrees C than were 16 degrees C expanded leaves. Thus, it is concluded that spinach grown at low temperature is not stressed. However, shifting spinach leaves from 5 degrees C to 16 degrees C or from 16 degrees C to 5 degrees C for 12 days after full leaf expansion had occurred resulted in a 20 to 25% reduction in apparent quantum yields and 50 to 60% reduction in light saturated rates of both CO(2) exchange and O(2) evolution. This was not accompanied by a change in the pigment content or composition or in the room temperature in vivo fluorescence. It appears that leaf aging during the temperature shift period can account for the reduction in photosynthesis. Comparison of cold-hardened and non-hardened winter rye (Secale cereale L. cv Muskateer) with spinach by in vivo fluorescence indicated that rye is more sensitive to both short term and longer duration temperature shifts than is spinach. Thus, susceptibility to an abrupt temperature shift appears to be species dependent.