Photosynthetic apparatus of barley plants treated with 5-aminolevulinic acid: mechanisms of adaptation to drought

Abstract

A significant effect of soil drought on the morphometric parameters of the leaves of barley plants of the Brovar and Avans varieties, the accumulation of reactive oxygen species, as well as the content of photosynthetic pigments in them has been established. It has been shown that during drought, the treatment of leaves of barley plants of the Brovar variety with 5-aminolevulinic acid causes a decrease in the content of proteins of photosystem antenna complexes, which leads to a decrease in the size of the light-harvesting antenna and is an effective mechanism for protecting the photosynthetic apparatus from oxidative stress. Fine adjustment of the photosynthetic apparatus components of leaves of barley plants ofthe Brovar variety to drought may be a key factor in determining the resistance of this variety to this type of abiotic stress. In the Avans variety, these adaptation mechanisms are either absent or manifest to a lesser extent, which leads to a more intensive development of oxidative stress in plants of this variety under the action of soil drought.