CHLOROPHYLL FLUORESCENCE IN CUCUMBER (Cucumis safivus L.) AND PEA (Pisum sativum L.) LEAVES UNDER CHILLING STRESS IN THE LIGHT AND DURING THE SUBSEQUENT RECOVERY PERIOD

To investigate the chilling sensitivity related injuries in the photosynthetic apparatus of cucumber leaves, the light-chilling induced alterations of chlorophyll fluorescence transients in cucumber leaves were compared with those in pea leaves. As an early effect of light-chilling, an increase in Fp/Fm$^*$ was observed in both pea and cucumber leaves, which was saturated by about 6 h chilling. However, the saturated value of Fp/Fm was almost 1.0 in cucumber, in contrast to about 0.8 in pea. During the recovery period after 24 h chilling, the light-chilling induced changes in pea seemed to be reversed, but those in cucumber leaves were thought to be irreversible, because Fo was increased significantly. Light-chilling caused significant decreases in qQ and qE in cucumber leaves, but qR was increased until 6 h, and decreased thereafter. In both pea and cucumber leaves, Fm was increased by 2 h dark treatment. The Fm from the predarkened pea leaf discs was higher than the value from the preilluminated ones during the whole period of light-chilling (500 $\mu$mol m$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$ PAR). However, the predarkened cucumber leaf discs showed a reduction in Fm and an increase in Fo during the 2 h chilling in the light. These results indicate that the causes of chilling sensitivities in photosynthetic apparatus of cucumber leaves are possibly related with the damage in PSI reaction center and the ability of acidification of lumen by PSII.