Kim, Du-Hyun;Han, Sim-Hee;Lee, Kab-Yeon;Kim, Pan-Gi
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Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis L.) seedlings were grown under low light intensity and ozone treatments to investigate the role of the light environment in their response to chronic ozone stress. One-year-old seedlings of Platanus occidentalis L. were grown in pots for 3 weeks under low light (OL, $150{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$) and high light (OH, $300{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$) irradiance in combination with 150 ppb of ozone fumigation. After three weeks of ozone and light treatment, seedlings were placed in ozone free clean chamber for 3 weeks for recovery from ozone stress with same light conditions to compare recovery capacity. Ozone fumigation determined an impairment of the photosynthetic process. Reduction of leaf dry weight (14%) and shoo/root ratio (17%) were observed in OH treatment. OL treatment also showed severe reductions in leaf dry weight and shoot/root ratio by 48% and 36% comparing to control, respectively. At the recovery phase, OH-treated plants recovered their biomass, whereas OL-treated plant showed reduction in leaf dry weight (52%) and shoot/root ratio (49%). OH-treated plants reached similar relative growth rate (RGR) comparing to control, whereas OL-treated plants showed lower RGR in stem height. However, there were no significant differences in response to those treatments in stem diameter RGR at the recovery phase. Ozone treatment produced significant reduction of net photosynthesis in both high and low light treatments. Carboxylation efficiency and apparent quantum yield in OL-treated plants showed significant reductions rate to 10% and 45%, respectively. At the recovery stage, ozone exposed seedlings under high light had similar photosynthetic capacity comparing to control plants. Antioxidant enzymes activities such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and glutathione reductase (GR) were increased in ozone fumigated plants only under low light. The present work shows that the physiological changes occur in photosynthesis-related parameters and growth due to ozone and low light stress. Thus, low light seems to enhance the detrimental effects of ozone on growth, photosynthesis, and antioxidant enzyme responses.