Heat Tolerance and Flowering-heat-delay Sensitivity in Relation to Cell Membrane Thermostability in Chrysanthemum

Abstract

Flowering of many chrysanthemum [Dendranthema ×grandiflora (Ramat.) Kitam.] cultivars is reduced or delayed under high temperatures. Identification and rapid selection of heat-tolerant and flowering-heat-delay-insensitive chrysanthemum genotypes for commercial production is desirable. An electrolyte leakage technique was used to measure cell membrane thermostability of chrysanthemum cultivars. The relationship between the relative injury (RI) value occurring in leaf tissue discs and the treatment temperature was sigmoidal. The RI values at the approximate midpoint of the sigmoid response curve occurred at 47 to 53 °C for summer- and fall-flowering cultivars and at 45 to 46 °C treatments for winter- and spring-flowering cultivars. Regressing the delay in days to flowering for the cultivars grown at day/night temperature of 30/25 °C compared with those grown at 20/15 °C versus their associated RI values at 50 °C treatment showed a linear relationship. Reduced RI was more apparent in the heat-tolerant ‘Kaa Luoh-Lii’ than the heat-intolerant ‘Repulse’ after 30/25 °C treatment for 24 to 27 days. When 30/25 and 20/15 °C treatments were compared, the former did not alter leaf malondialdehyde (MDA) content in ‘Kaa Luoh-Lii’ but increased MDA content in ‘Repulse’.