Antioxidant responses of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) to photoinhibition and oxidative stress induced by norflurazon under high and low PPFDs

Photooxidative damage is exacerbated by norflurazon (NF), which blocks carotenoid biosynthesis. This study examined the influence of photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) on the overall responses of both non-enzymatic and enzymatic antioxidants to NF-caused oxidative damage in leaves of cucumber (Cucumis sativus). Seven-day-old cucumber plants were exposed to NF under either low PPFD (30 μmol m^-2 s^-1) or high PPFD (300 μmol m^-2 s^-1) for 3 days. The NF plants exposed at high PPFD had lower levels of F(v)/F(m) ratio, quantum yield of electron transport, and 33-kDa protein of photosystem II as compared with the NF plants at low PPFD. In the NF plants, there was a reduction in total chlorophylls and carotenoids except newly formed zeaxanthin in either PPFD. The NF plants at high PPFD resulted in less level of photochemical quenching, q(p), and Stern-Volmer quenching, NPQ, than those of the plants at low PPFD, whereas both plants had similar level of non- photochemical quenching coefficient, q(N). However, the level of PPFD did not significantly affect the NF-caused induction of antioxidant enzymes including peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase, and ascorbate peroxidase. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.