Response characteristics of highland barley under freeze-thaw, drought and artemisinin stresses

Huichen Liu; Guozhang Bao; Zihao Dou; Haoyuan Liu; Jingqi Bai; Yingyi Chen; Yifu Yuan; Xin Zhang; Jinghui Xi

doi:10.1186/s12870-022-03520-0

Response characteristics of highland barley under freeze-thaw, drought and artemisinin stresses

BMC Plant Biol. 2022 Mar 18;22(1):126. doi: 10.1186/s12870-022-03520-0.

Authors

Huichen Liu¹, Guozhang Bao^{2

3

4}, Zihao Dou¹, Haoyuan Liu¹, Jingqi Bai¹, Yingyi Chen¹, Yifu Yuan⁵, Xin Zhang⁶, Jinghui Xi⁷

Affiliations

¹ College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China.
² College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China. baogz@jlu.edu.cn.
³ Key Laboratory of Groundwater Resources and Environment of the Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, China. baogz@jlu.edu.cn.
⁴ Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Changchun, China. baogz@jlu.edu.cn.
⁵ College of Computer Science&Technology, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China.
⁶ College of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China.
⁷ College of Plant Science, Jilin University, Changchun, 130062, China.

Abstract

The freeze-thaw of early spring in China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is often accompanied by severe droughts. Artemisia annua, widely distributed in China, releases allelopathic substances, mainly artemisinin, to the environment and exerts a wide range of effects on crops. This paper studied the physiological effects of highland barley under freeze-thaw, drought, and artemisinin stress through indoor simulation experiments. The physiological response characteristics of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, catalase (POD) activity, net photosynthetic rate, relative water content (RWC), relative electrical conductivity, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, and soluble protein content in highland barley were analyzed. The results showed that artemisinin and drought contributed to the increase of SOD activity and the decrease of POD activity. Under the freeze-thaw stress, the SOD and POD activities both decreased firstly and then increased, but the effect of compound stress on POD was more complicated. Either artemisinin, drought, or low temperature could reduce the net photosynthetic rate of highland barley. Low temperature had more significant impacts on photosynthesis, and compound stress would show a single stress superimposed effect. Artemisinin, drought, and low temperature could reduce the RWC of highland barley, and increase the relative electrical conductivity and the concentration of soluble protein (except for low temperature stress above zero, which reduces the concentration of soluble protein). However, the effect of compound stress on soluble protein is more complex. The single stress of artemisinin and drought had no obvious effect on MDA content, while the MDA content was increased significantly under the freeze-thaw stress and the compound stress of artemisinin and drought, and the MDA content reached its peak at T1. The results are helpful to explore the effects of freeze-thaw, drought and artemisinin stress on the growth of highland barley under the background of the aridification of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and provide ideas for rational agricultural management.

Keywords: Artemisinin; Drought; Freeze-thaw; Highland barley.

MeSH terms

Artemisinins*
Droughts
Freezing
Hordeum*
Photosynthesis

Substances

Artemisinins