Influence of Temperature on the Vitamin Content of Green Plants

Abstract

Change in the temperature with seasons is such an important factor in plant growth that its influence on the vitamin content of plants deserves a thorough investigation. Yet very few such investigations have been made and all but one of these have been concerned with ascorbic acid. One of the peculiarities of these investigations has been that they do not agree as to the effect of temperature on the concentration of ascorbic acid in plants. HAMNER et at. (5) found that tomato fruits produced at a temperature of 780 F (260 C) had a higher ascorbic acid content than fruits produced at 630 F (170 C), while ABERG (1) states that young tomato plants grown at 15.50 C had a 30% higher content. of ascorbic acid than plants grown at 230 C. REID (8) found a lower concentration in cow pea seedlings grown at 290 than at 240 C and MOLDTMANN (7) noted that 10-day-old Vicia Faba seedlings had nearly twice as much ascorbic acid at 260 as at 140 C, whereas Pisum sativum seedlings had a much lower vitamin content at 26 than at 140 C. Avena sativa seedlings showed no essential difference at the two temperatures. SOMERS et al. (10) working with discs of turnip leaves floated on nutrient solution found that a higher concentration of ascorbic acid was obtained in discs grown at 240 C than in discs grown at 140 C. RODAHL (9) states that Empetrum nigrum has a higher concentration of ascorbic acid in northeast Greenland than in southeast Greenland. Presumably the former region has a lower temperature than the latter. MITCHELL and HOULAHAN (6) reported a mutant of Neurospora which in order to make satisfactory growth has to be supplied with riboflavin at 280 C but not at lower temperatures. WOLF (11) found that excised leaves of Bryophyllum calycinum lost ascorbic acid at a temperature of 200 but not at 70 and 370 C.Materials and methods It will be noted in the above review of the literature that aside from Moldtmann the different investigators used only one species of plants. In this investigation 10 species have been used and these have ranged in age from about two weeks to seven months. The following plants have been

Phytotoxicity of Herbicides, Reduction of 3-Amino-1,2,4-triazole Phytotoxicity in Tomato Plants

“…The inhibition of vitamin » production is of interest with other studies which have shown that riboflavin content in tomato plants increases with high light intensity (3), long photoperiods (4), and high temperatures (5), factors which were not kept constant in these studies and which might have contributed to the variability of data observed.…”

Sources of Variation in the Nutrient Content of Agricultural Commodities From the Farm to the Consumer

“…Optimal temperatures for ascorbic acid accumulation tend to be under 20°C (Salunkhe and Desai 1988;Nagy and Wardowski 19881, although some notable exceptions such as turnip greens (Rosenfeld 1979) exist. Likewise, B-vitamins tend to accumulate better at 10-15°C in green vegetables but at 27-30°C in tomatoes (Gustafson 1950).…”

“…Likewise, B-vitamins tend to accumulate better at 10-15°C in green vegetables but at 27-30°C in tomatoes (Gustafson 1950).…”