Female plants of Hippophae salicifolia D. Don are more responsive to cold stress than male plants

Abstract

Hippophae salicifolia D. Don (Seabuckthorn) grows in stressful environment of high altitude under conditions of low temperature and low availability of water. We have studied gender based differences in physiochemical response to cold stress in male and female plants of Seabuckthorn. After 24 h of cold stress about 32 and 66 % higher electrolyte leakage (EL) was recorded in male and female plants respectively. Relative water content (RWC) at the end of 24 h stress was higher in male plants (~64 %) compared to female plants (~60 %). Proline content in leaf samples of cold stressed male and female plants also increased upon cold stress. After 24 h about 2.7 fold higher amount of proline was assessed in male and female in comparison to control plants. Similarly, about two fold increase in the specific activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase was also observed upon cold stress in male and female plants. These findings have important inferences for community of molecular biologists exploring seabuckthorn genome for agronomically important genes.