Physiological and Biochemical Responses of Plants to Chilling Stress

Abstract

Various physiological and biochemical alterations occur in response to chilling stress in plants. The extent of these alterations and the ability of the plant to withstand these alterations determine whether the plant is sensitive or resistant to chilling at that temperature. Information concerning the physiological and biochemical responses of plants to chilling stress has been accumulating rapidly during recent years. However, when one looks into the literature, it does not take long to realize that there is no general consensus on a number of issues. Although some of the conflicting or contradicting points have been clarified by recent findings, there are still some ambiguous areas awaiting to be resolved. Some examples of these controversial issues are: a) the importance of bulk membrane lipid composition in determining the chilling sensitivity, b) the interference of energy production and utilization in tissues by chilling, c) the relationship of membrane permeability to chilling, and d) the capacity of water oxidation in photosystem II as affected by chilling.

Benzyl-aminopurine (BAP) treatments delay cell wall degradation and softening, improving quality maintenance of refrigerated summer squash

“…Subsequently, CO 2 production increased in both control and BAP-treated fruit. Exacerbated RR in chilling-sensitive species could be the result of prolonged refrigerated storage (Wang, 1982;Lee et al, 2001). Treated fruit showed slightly higher RR than the control at day 25, but no differences were detected afterwards.…”

Metabolite Profiling Reveals the Effect of Cold Storage on Primary Metabolism in Nectarine Varieties with Contrasting Mealiness

“…The increase of organic acids in the mealy fruits could have been an attempt to access more energy and carbon skeletons through the participation of TCA, to try to repair the deterioration in the structures resulting from the physiological disorder. In many cold-sensitive crops, an increase in respiration rate due to cooling temperatures has been observed [ 45 ]. Likewise, the accumulation of GABA described in mealy fruits (S3) could also have been a strategy to increase the amount of energy via the GABA shunt pathway providing TCA intermediates [ 46 ] in fruits that were experiencing chilling injury [ 47 ].…”