Morphological and Photosynthetic Response to High and Low Irradiance of Aeschynanthus Longicaulis
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Hindawi Publishing Corporation e Scientific World Journal Volume 2014, Article ID 347461, 8 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/347461 Research Article Morphological and Photosynthetic Response to High and Low Irradiance of Aeschynanthus longicaulis Qiansheng Li,1 Min Deng,2 Yanshi Xiong,2 Allen Coombes,3 and Wei Zhao2 1 School of Ecology, Shanghai Institute of Technology, Shanghai 201418, China 2 Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden, Shanghai 201602, China 3 Herbarium and Botanic Garden, Benemerita Autonomous University of Puebla, 72000 Puebla, PUE, Mexico Correspondence should be addressed to Min Deng; [email protected] Received 21 March 2014; Revised 11 June 2014; Accepted 16 June 2014; Published 30 June 2014 Academic Editor: Jean Louis Hilbert Copyright © 2014 Qiansheng Li et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Aeschynanthus longicaulis plants are understory plants in the forest, adapting to low light conditions in their native habitats. To observe the effects of the high irradiance on growth and physiology, plants were grown under two different light levels, PPFD 2 1 2 1 650 mol⋅m– ⋅s– and 150 mol⋅m– ⋅s– for 6 months. Plants under high irradiance had significantly thicker leaves with smaller leaf area, length, width, and perimeter compared to the plants grown under low irradiance. Under high irradiance, the leaf color −2 −2 turned yellowish and the total chlorophyll decreased from 5.081 mg⋅dm to 3.367 mg⋅dm . The anthocyanin content of high irradiance leaves was double that of those under low irradiance. The plants under high irradiance had significantly lower A –2 –1 –2 –1 –2 –1 (5.69 mol⋅m ⋅s ) and LSP (367 mol⋅m ⋅s ) and higher LCP (21.9 mol⋅m ⋅s ). The chlorophyll fluorescence parameter V/ was significantly lower and NPQ was significantly higher inhigh irradiance plants. RLCs showed significantly lower ETRmax and –2 –1 in plants under high irradiance. It can be concluded that the maximum PPFD of 650 mol⋅m ⋅s led to significant light stress and photoinhibition of A. longicaulis. 1. Introduction is estimated that more than 50 species and/or cultivars are marketed for ornamental purposes. Aeschynanthus plants are Aeschynanthus Jack (Gesneriaceae) comprises approximately now among the most popular hanging basket and potted 160 species distributed from Sri Lanka and India through flowering plants in the floriculture industry3 [ ]. southern China and Southeast Asia to New Guinea and A. longicaulis Wall. ex R.Br. is native to South Yunnan of the Solomon Islands. The estimated number of species will China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. It produces clusters undoubtedly change over time as more species are revised [1]. of orange flowers against trailing stems of dark green leaves, Aeschynanthus plants are noted for their brilliant red, orange, from summer to winter. The back of the leaf is mottled. Stems or yellow tubular flowers that often appear in large terminal extend to 40 cm, glabrous. Leaves are opposite; petiole is clusters. The interesting shape of the calyx and emerging bud absent or reaching 5 mm; leaf blade is elliptic to lanceolate has given some of them the common name of “lipstick plant.” or oblanceolate, 6.5–12 × 2.1–3.3 cm, papery to leathery, The plants are usually epiphytic, shrubby, climbing, or trailing glabrous, adaxially drying wrinkled, abaxially sparsely punc- in habit, with dark green or mottled waxy leaves. They can tate, base cuneate, margin crenulate and undulate, and apex begrowninahangingpotorbasketathomeoroutdoors. acuminate; lateral veins are indistinct. With its trailing or The best known species is A. pulcher (Blume) G. Don. There pendulous stems and attractive leaf color, it can be used as arealsosomecultivarswhicharepopularinhorticulture,for a hanging basket plant [4, 5]. example, Aeschynanthus “Bali,” “Red Cascade,” “Hot Flash,” Aeschynanthus species are easy epiphytes to cultivate “R i g e l ,” an d “B i g App l e ,” w it h d i ffe re nt fl ow e r c o l or s[ 2]. It and propagate. They can be grown in hanging baskets with 2 The Scientific World Journal a free draining and open compost consisting of bark, perlite, each group. Each pot was filled with a peat-based potting mix vermiculite, and charcoal, which allows water to pass through (70% peat, 20% perlite, and 10% vermiculite based on volume) easily but can hold enough moisture for plant growth [6]. and top dressed with 5 g 18N-6P2O5-12K2Ocontrolledrelease They generally grow all year round in the greenhouse kept at fertilizer. The maximum light intensity of the high irradiance ∘ −2 −1 18–24 C. Among environmental factors, light, both quantity treatment was maintained under 650 mol⋅m ⋅s of PPFD and quality have a great impact on the growth and flowering by internal and external shading of the greenhouse. The of Aeschynanthus. Gertsson reported that Aeschynanthus was maximum light intensity of the low irradiance treatment −2 −1 a long-day plant [7], while Whitton et al. further proved was maintained under 150 mol⋅m ⋅s of PPFD by extra that temperature interacted with photoperiod to influence shadingonthebench.Allplantsweregrownfor6months flowering of hybrid “Koral”; light quantity may also have from April to September. effects on flowering8 [ , 9]. Aeschynanthus plants are understory plants adapting to low light conditions in their native habitats [10]. Low 2.2. Leaf Morphology and Anatomy. At the end of the exper- irradiance generally leads to larger leaves with reduced iment, 25 fully expanded mature leaves from different pots thickness, stomatal density, and conductive tissue per unit of each treatment were collected for measurements. The stem leaf area [11].Treecanopyresponsestolowlightinclude lengthandnodenumberwererecordedandtheaveragenode increased internode length and reduced leaf area index. length was calculated. Leaf thickness was measured with a Plants also exhibit numerous physiological adaptations to low micrometer. Leaf area, leaf perimeter, leaf length, and leaf irradiance, including increased quantum yield and reduced width were measured using a portable leaf area meter (Yaxin- dark respiration, light compensation, and saturation points 1241, Beijing). Leaf fresh mass (FM) and dry mass (DM) of [12].However,lowlightgrownplantshavebeenfrequently each single leaf were measured using a balance, and specific reported to be more susceptible to photoinhibition than high leaf weight (SLW) was calculated on a dry mass basis by light grown plants [13, 14]. To cope with high light stress, dividing the leaf area of one leaf by its dry mass. The leaf water plants may alter the pigments, structure, and orientation of content (LWC), as a percentage of fresh mass, was calculated leaves, especially in shade plants [15]. Thus, the appearance according to the following formula: LWC (%) = 100 ((FM − of the foliage can change greatly, affecting the aesthetic value. DM)/FM). During our cultivation practice, we have noticed that the Freehand cross-sections of fresh, unstained leaves were growth,leafcolor,andmorphologicaltraitsofA. longicaulis prepared by using an ethanol-cleaned razor blade and cutting showed great differences when the plants were exposed on from the midrib to the leaf margin. Sections were observed the greenhouse bench without additional interior shading. using an Olympus BX51 optical microscope. Photomicro- The considerable changes of leaf color and morphology are graphs were taken using a Canon G12 digital camera. caused by the response of photosynthetic pigments and apparatus. These changes of physiological and morphological traits that allow the shade-adapted plants to thrive in high 2.3. Pigments Assay. Chlorophyll was extracted in 95% light might be detrimental to the photosynthetic apparatus ethanol. Four leaf discs were punched with a 6 mm diameter 2 and finally affect their growth. We hypothesized that, as being puncher(havingatotalsurfaceof1.12cm)andplacedin understory plants native to low light habitats, A. longicaulis a vial with 5 mL ethanol. Vials were kept in the dark at ∘ may suffer photoinhibition or even photodamage when the 4 C in a refrigerator for 20 hours with occasional shaking. plants are grown under high light intensity, although they The amounts of Chl (a + b) and carotenoid were measured may develop various strategies to cope with the high light spectrophotometrically [16]. Another four leaf discs were stress, including changing the structure, pigments, and pho- extracted with 1% (w/v) HCl in methanol, and the antho- tosynthetic apparatus for photoprotection. The aims of this cyanin contents were assayed spectrophotometrically. The study were to compare the leaf anatomical, morphological, relative amounts of anthocyanin were expressed by 530− and photosynthetic differences of A. longicaulis grown under 0.25657 [17]. Absorbance was measured with a Hitachi U- high and low light intensity in the greenhouse and reveal if 5100 UV-visible spectrophotometer. photoinhibition occurs by measuring traditional photosyn- thetic light response curves and chlorophyll fluorescence. 2.4. Stomatal Density. The traditional method of making epidermalimprintsusingclearnailpolishwasusedto 2. Materials and Methods measure the stomatal density [18]. A thick layer of clear nail polish was brushed onto the lower epidermis of each leaf, 2.1. Plant Material and