Abstract
For three cultivars of chilling-sensitive cucumber plants, chilling sensitivity was evaluated in terms of photosynthetic activity using Chl fluorescence techniques. Low-temperature treatment caused a decrease in photosynthetic activities of cucumber leaves, measured as CO$_2$ exchange, as well as the decrease in the stomatal conductance. FR of the three cultivars decreased after chilling for 24 h in light and the extent of decline of F$_R$ was the greatest in 'Chosaeng' cultivar. When these plants were recovered from light-chilling, 'Chosaeng' and 'Samchuk' cultivars did not fully restore the original value of F$_R$ after 24 h of recovery, in contrast to 'Ilmi' cultivar which showed a rather efficient recovery. The results of FR study showed that 'Chosaeng' was most susceptible, whereas Ilmi was most resistant, to chilling among the three cultivars of cucumber plants. When quenching coefficients for chlorophyll fluorescence was analyzed after chilling the cucumber plants for 24 h in light, 'Chosaeng' elicited more rapid declines in the coefficients for photochemical quenching (qQ), non-photochemical quenching (qNP) and energy-dependent quenching (qE) than 'Ilmi' and 'Samchuk'. The implications of these observations are discussed in relation to the growth habits of the respective cultivars in the field. The results showed that measurement of chlorophyll fluorescence was an effective means of screening chilling tolerance of cucumber plants. Furthermore, the study on the chlorophyll fluorescence induction and fluorescence quenching charactersitics showed that low temperature could accelerate inhibition of photosynthesis in chilling-sensitive plants, by limiting Calvin cycle activity and disrupting, in part, the energy dissipation mechanims of the photosystem II.