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Chilling tolerance in Nicotiana tabacum induced by seed priming with putrescine

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Abstract

Chilling stress is one of primary constraints to tobacco production in many parts of the world. The present study was conducted to induce chilling tolerance in tobacco by seed priming with putrescine (Put) in relation to physiological changes, using seeds from two tobacco varieties, MSk326 (chilling sensitive variety) and Honghuadajinyuan (HHDJY, chilling tolerant variety). Seed germination, seedling antioxidant enzyme activities and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, as well as polyamine concentration were determined under low temperature. During chilling stress at 11°C, seed priming with 0.01 mM Put for 48 h (Put0.01mM48 h) and seed priming with 0.1 mM Put for 48 h (Put0.1mM48 h) significantly increased germination percentage, germination index, seedling length and dry weight of both varieties compared to the controls without Put treatment. When seedlings of 4-leaf stage suffered a short chilling stress (5°C), Put 0.1 mM 48 h improved the activities of antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX), increased endogenous Put, Spd and Spm concentration and decreased the MDA concentration. The results showed that Put priming treatments were available to enhance the chilling tolerance of tobacco seedlings. The optimal treatment of Put was Put0.1 mM48 h.

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Abbreviations

APX:

Ascorbate peroxidase

CAT:

Catalase

EDTA:

Ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

NBT:

Nitroblue tetrazolium

PA:

Polyamine

POD:

Peroxidase

Put:

Putrescine

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

Spd:

Spermidine

Spm:

Spermine

TBA:

2-Thiobarbituric acid

TCA:

Trichloroacetic acid

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Acknowledgments

The research was supported by the Yunnan Province Tobacco Company (No. 07A02, 09YN008), Major Science and Technology Special Project (priority subject) of Zhejiang Province (No. 2008C12005-1) and Major special project of Ministry of Agriculture (No. 2008ZX08005-005), China. The authors are grateful to the editor and anonymous reviewers for comments that improved the presentation of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agronomy, Zhejiang University, 310029, Hangzhou, China

    Shengchun Xu, Jin Hu & Shuijin Zhu

  2. Southern Center of China Tobacco Breeding Research, Yunnan Tobacco Science Research Institute, 653100, Yuxi, China

    Yongping Li, Wenguang Ma & Yunye Zheng

  3. Institute of Vegetables, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Science, 310021, Hangzhou, China

    Shengchun Xu

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  1. Shengchun Xu
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  2. Jin Hu
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Correspondence to Jin Hu.

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Xu, S., Hu, J., Li, Y. et al. Chilling tolerance in Nicotiana tabacum induced by seed priming with putrescine. Plant Growth Regul 63, 279–290 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-010-9528-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-010-9528-z

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