Drought and cold stress responses in orostachys spinosa L.

Abstract

Orostachys spinosa L. is a succulent plant native to predominantly East Asia. The objective of this study was to identify physiological and morphological responses of O. spinosa L. species to cold, drought stress in laboratory conditions. Exposure of plants to a drought stress for 28 days slightly decreased the photochemical efficiency of PSII and the Fv/Fm values were 10-15% lower (0.75±0.01) compared with the control plants (0.85±0.01). For cold treatments, plants were exposed to 4°C for 60 days and for recovery transferred to normal growth conditions for 14 days. Fv/Fm photochemical efficiency of PSII can be used to monitor PSII photoinhibition. This parameter describes the efficiency of the electron transfer within PSII.The results of this study demonstrated that O. spinosa L. plants were better adapted to cold and drought conditions as they showed less visible symptoms and highest Fv/Fm levels at the long time chilling and drought stress.