Document Type : Research paper

Authors

Department of Horticultural Science, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran

Abstract

One of the most important problems of strawberry cultivation in temperate regions is winter cold injuries. Current study investigated impacts of foliar application of glycine betaine (GB) at 0, 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 mM concentrations on the cold hardiness of strawberry. The plants were divided into two groups: one group for evaluation of cold hardiness at temperatures of -6, -9, -12, -15 and -18 °C; and the other for study of some biochemical characteristics. Results showed that GB treatment increased soluble carbohydrate and proline concentrations in both leaf and crown tissues, total protein concentration in leaf, and relative water content in leaf as compared to those in control. Based on LT50 calculated from electrolyte leakage and tetrazolium staining test, the GB application increased cold hardiness in strawberry plant based on its concentration. The highest cold hardiness was found in the 2 mM GB concentration based on electrolyte leakage and tetrazolium staining tests at -13.3 and -15.3 °C. Meanwhile, the lowest values of cold hardiness were observed in the control treatments based on electrolyte leakage and tetrazolium staining tests at -10.2 and -11.0 °C. Significant correlations were found between soluble carbohydrate and proline concentrations in leaf and crown, and total protein concentration with LT50 calculated from electrolyte leakage and tetrazolium staining test. We conclude that application of 2 mM GBhas the capacity to increase the freezing tolerance of strawberry and could be used as a prophylactic tool to reduce winter cold injury.

Keywords

Adak N. 2019. Effects of glycine betaine concentrations on the agronomic characteristics of strawberry grown under deficit irrigation conditions. Applied Ecology and Environmental Research 17(2), 3753-3767.
Ali Q, Ashraf M. 2011. Exogenously applied glycine betaine enhances seed and seed oil quality of maize (Zea mays L.) under water deficit conditions. Environmental and Experimental Botany 71(2), 249-259.
Andrews P.L, Sandidge C.R, Toyama T.K. 1984. Deep supercooling of dormant and deacclimating Vitis buds. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 35, 175-177.
Aras S, Esitken A. 2013. Effects of antifreeze proteins and glycine betaine on strawberry plants for resistance to cold temperature. International Conference on Agriculture and Biotechnology 60(21), 107-111.
Arndt S.K, Irawan A, Sanders GJ. 2015. Apoplastic water fraction and rehydration techniques introduce significant errors in measurements of relative water content and osmotic potential in plant leaves. Physiologia Plantarum 155 (4), 355-368.
Ashraf M.F, Foolad, M. 2007. Roles of glycine betaine and proline in improving plant abiotic stress resistance. Environmental and Experimental Botany 59(2), 206-216.
Bajji M, Kinet J.M, Lutts S. 2002. The use of the electrolyte leakage method for assessing cell membrane stability as a water stress tolerance test in durum wheat. Plant Growth Regulation 36 (1), 61-70.
Bates L.S, Waldren R.P, Teare ID. 1973. Rapid determination of free proline for water-stress studies. Plant and Soil 39(1), 205-207.
Bradford M.M. 1976. A rapid and sensitive method for the quantitation of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of protein-dye binding. Analytical biochemistry 72(1-2), 248-254.
Campos P.S, Quartin V, Chicho Ramalho J, Nunes MA. 2003. Electrolyte leakage and lipid degradation account for cold sensitivity in leaves of Coffea sp. plants. Journal of Plant Physiology 160(3), 283-292.
Chaum S, Supaibulwatana K. Kirdmanee C. 2006. Water relation, photosynthetic ability and growth of Thai Jasmine rice (Oryza sativa L.) to salt stress by application of exogenous glycine betaine and choline. Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science 192(1), 25-36.
Chen T.H.H, Murata N. 2008. Glycine betaine: an effective protectant against abiotic stress in plants: review. Trends in Plant Science 13(9), 499-505.
Chen WP, Li PH, Chen THH. 2000. Glycinebetaine increases chilling tolerance and reduces chilling‐induced lipid peroxidation in Zea mays L. plant. Cell and Environment, 23(6), 609-618.
Cheng L, Ma F, Ranwala D. 2004. Nitrogen storage and its interaction with carbohydrates of young apple trees in response to nitrogen supply. Tree Physiology 24(1), 91-98.
Demiral T. Türkan I. 2004. Does exogenous glycinebetaine affect antioxidative system of rice seedlings under NaCl treatment. Journal of Plant Physiology 161(10), 1089-1100.
FAO. 2018: FAOSTAT, Statistical Database. – Available: http://faostat.fao.org/site/567/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=567#ancor [25 December 2019].
Fariduddin Q, Yusuf M, Chalkoo S, Hayat S, Ahmad A. 2011. 28-homobrassinolide improves growth and photosynthesis in Cucumis sativus L. through an enhanced antioxidant system in the presence of chilling stress. Photosynthetica 49(1), 55-64.
Farooq M, Basra SMA, Wahid A, Cheema ZA, Cheema MA, Khaliq A. 2008. Physiological role of exogenously applied glycinebetaine to improve drought tolerance in fine grain aromatic rice (Oryza sativa L.). Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science 194(5), 325-333.
Feller U, Anders I, Demirevska K. 2008. Degradation of rubisco and other chloroplast proteins under abiotic stress. Gen Applied Plant Physiology 34(1-2), 5-18.
Galletta G.J, Himmelrick DG, 1990. Strawberry management. In: Small Fruit Crop Management. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, pp. 83–156.
Goldsmith L.H.T. 2009. Freezing tolerance and dehydrin protein expression in Frontenac and Seyval blanc grapevine bark and xylem cane tissues during acclimation, midwinter, and deacclimation. Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science 187(2), 108-118.
Gorham J. 1995. Betaines in higher plants – biosynthesis and role in stress metabolism. In: Wallsgrove R. (Ed.), Amino Acids and their Derivatives in Higher Plants (Society for Experimental Biology Seminar Series, pp. 173-204). Cambridge: Cambridge University.
Guy C.L. 2008. Cold acclimation and freezing stress tolerance: role of protein metabolism. Annual Review of Plant Biology 41(1), 187-223.
Hancock J.F. 1999. Strawberries. Wallingford, CABI. 237. p.
Hincha D.K, Zuther E. 2014. Introduction: Plant Cold Acclimation and Freezing Tolerance. In: Hincha D, Zuther E. (eds) Plant Cold Acclimation. Methods in Molecular Biology (Methods and Protocols), vol 1166. Humana Press, New York, NY
Hirt H, Shinozaki K. 2004. Plant responses to abiotic stress. Springer. Heidelberg. Germany. 300. P.
Iba K. 2002. Acclimative response to temperature stress in higher plants: approaches of gene engineering for temperature tolerance. Annual Review of Plant Biology 53(1), 225-245.
Irigoyen J.J, Einerich D.W, Sánchez‐Díaz M. 2010. Water stress induced changes in concentrations of proline and total soluble sugars in nodulated alfalfa (Medicago sativa) plants. Physiologia Plantarum 84(1), 55-60.
Karami F, Gholami M, Ershadi A, Sio-Se Mardeh A. 2018. Evaluation of winter cold tolerance and critical temperature (LT50) estimation in 21 strawberry cultivars. Iranian Journal of Horticultural Science, 49(1), 79-91. (in Farsi with abstract in English).
Kavi Kishor P.B, Hima Kumari P, Sunita M.S, Sreenivasulu N. 2015. Role of proline in cell wall synthesis and plant development and its implications in plant ontogeny. Frontier in Plant Science 6, 544.
Khandan-Mirkohi A, Khalili Halbi M, Salami S, Lesani H. 2017. Improving effects of mild cold stress and salicylic acid on growth and physiology of periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus Don.). International Journal of Horticultural Science and Technology 4(1), 67-78.
Leul M, Zhou W.J. 1999. Alleviation of waterlogging damage in winter rape by uniconazole application: effects on enzyme activity, lipid peroxidation, and membrane integrity. Journal of Plant Growth Regulation 18(1), 9-14.
Lukoseviciute V, Rugienius R, Baniulis D, Savickiene N, Brazaityte A, Ruzgas V, Jariene E, Kupcinskiene E, Liobikas J, Slepetiene A. 2014. Characterization of cold acclimation and cold hardiness of strawberry in vitro and in vivo. Aleksandro Stulginskio Universitetas. 18(2), 182-199.
Makela P, Kontturi M, Pehu E, Somersalo S. 1999. Photosynthetic response of drought‐and salt‐stressed tomato and turnip rape plants to foliar‐applied glycinebetaine. Physiologia Plantarum 105(1), 45-50.
Maughan T.L, Black B.L, Drost D. 2015. Critical temperaturefor sub-lethal cold injury of strawberry leaves. ScientiaHorticulturae 183, 8-12.
Meng X, Han J, Wang Q, Tian S. 2009. Changes in physiology and quality of peach fruits treated by methyl jasmonate under low temperature stress. Food Chemistry, 114(3), 1028-1035.
Mickelbart M.V, Chapman P, Collier-Christian L. 2006. Endogenous levels and exogenous application of glycinebetaine to grapevines. Scientia Horticulturae 111(1), 7-16.
Nestby R, Bjorgum R., 1999. Freeze injury to strawberry plants as evaluated by crown tissue browning, regrowth and yield parameters. Scientia Horticulturae 81 (3), 321–329.
Okamoto G, Wang S, Hirano K. 2000. Cold resistance in root and cane of own-root Kyoho grapevines. Tree Physiology 89(1), 23-29.
Ouellet F, Charron J.B. 2013. Cold acclimation and freezing tolerance in plants. eLS, John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. Retrieved May 29, 2014, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470015902.a0020093.pub2/pdf/.
Paquin R, Lechasseur P. 1979. Observations sur une methode de dosage de la proline libre dans les extraits de plantes. Canadian Journal of Botany 57(18), 1851-1854.
Park E.J, Jeknic Z, Chen T.H. 2006. Exogenous application of glycinebetaine increases chilling tolerance in tomato plants. Plant and Cell Physiology 47(6), 706-714.
Porra R.J, Thompson W.A, Kriedemann P.E. 1989. Determination of accurate extinction coefficients and simultaneous equations for assaying chlorophylls a and b extracted with four different solvents: verification of the concentration of chlorophyll standards by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 975(3), 384-394.
Rajashekar C.B, Zhou H, Marcum KB, Prakash O. 1999. Glycine betaine accumulation and induction of cold tolerance in strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) plants. Plant Science 148(2), 175-183.
Sakamoto A, Murata N. 2002. The role of glycine betaine in the protection of plants from stress: clues from transgenic plants. Plant, Cell & Environment 25(2), 163-171.
Sarikhani H, Haghi H, Ershadi A, Esna-Ashari M, Pouya M. 2014. Foliar application of potassium sulphate enhances the cold-hardiness of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.). Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology 89 (2), 141-146.
Weibing X, Rajashekar C.B. 2018. Alleviation of water stress in beans by exogenous glycine betaine. Plant Science 148(2), 185-192.
Wisniewski M, Bassett C, Gusta LV. 2003. An overview of cold hardiness in woody plants: seeing the forest through the trees. HortScience 38(5), 952-959.
Xing W, Rajashekar CB. 2001. Glycine betaine involvement in freezingtolerance and water stress in Arabidopsis thaliana. Environmental andExperimental Botany 46(1), 21-28.
Yang X, Jian J.B. 2010. Study on cold hardiness testing of Ginbian seris almond by electrical conductivity. Journal of Shanxi Agriculture Science 3, 94-98.
Yang X, Lu C. 2005. Photosynthesis is improved by exogenous glycinebetaine in salt‐stressed maize plants. Physiologia Plantarum 124(3), 343-352.
Yildirim E, Ekinci M, Turan M, Dursun A, Kul R, Parlakova F. 2015. Roles of glycine betaine in mitigating deleterious effect of salt stress on lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science 61, 1673-1689.
Zhang Y, Zhang Y, Lin Y, Luo Y, Wang X, Chen Q, Tang H. 2019. A transcriptomic analysis reveals diverse regulatory networks that respond to cold stress in strawberry (Fragaria×ananassa). International Journal of Genomics 61(1), 121-128.