Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
role of NO in plant PSII against heat stress. As an important strategy to protect
plants against heat stress is probably based on the fact that NO could improve the
recovery process of PSII by the upregulation of the transcriptions of genes encoding
PSII core proteins (Chen et al.
2013
).
9.2.6 Exogenous NO Donors in Plants Tolerance to Drought
Stress
Application of NO donors might also enhance plant resistance to drought stress by
decreasing water stress, enhancing stomatal closure, and reducing transpiration and
ion leakage (Garc´a-Mata and Lamattina
2001
). Addition of SNP on drought-
stressed wheat seedlings increased activities of antioxidant enzymes, reduced
oxidative damage, enhanced photosynthesis rate, and lowered water loss (Tan
et al.
2008
). These protective effects of SNP were inhibited by the addition of a
NO scavenger. All these results show that administration of NO donors might have
beneficial effects on plant growth and defense, mainly by increasing activities of
antioxidants enzymes and decreasing damages induced by ROS. However, the
majority of the papers are based on the use of free SNP.
NO and thidiazuron (TDZ) have been shown to extend the postharvest life of a
range of flowers. Postharvest storage of flowers can be considered similar to
drought stress due to water imbalance. NO plays an important role as signal
molecule in plant growth and development. SNP and TDZ activities on vase life,
flower diameter, relative water content, and electro leakage during postharvest of
cut lilium flowers were studied. After treatment, the results showed that the use of
TDZ increased flower longevity and water relative content. Treatment cut flower
with SNP also increased water relative content and flower diameter and increased
vase life (Kaviani and Mortazavi
2013
).
Similar results were observed with NO donor (SNP) on vase life, flower dia-
meter, relative water content, and electro leakage during postharvest of cut rose
flowers (
Rosa hybrida
cv.
). Flowers were treated with SNP and then hold
in the solution including a stabilizer such as 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQS). The
results showed that treatment cut flower with SNP increased water relative content,
flower diameter, and vase life (Talebi et al.
2013
).
Taken together, the administration of exogenous NO donors in plant has several
beneficial effects, as reported in this chapter. However, to the best of our knowl-
edge, the combination of small molecular weight NO donors with nanomaterials
has not been explored in agriculture. In contrast, combination of nanomaterials with
NO donors has been extensively explored in biomedical applications (Seabra and
Dur´n
2010
,
2012
; Seabra
2011
). Therefore, the use of NO-releasing nanomaterials
in agriculture might find important impacts.
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