Elsevier

Field Crops Research

Volume 85, Issues 2–3, 10 February 2004, Pages 149-158
Field Crops Research

Heat tolerance of upland cotton during the fruiting stage evaluated using cellular membrane thermostability

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-4290(03)00159-XGet rights and content

Abstract

Excessively high temperature during the reproductive stage significantly reduces yield in cotton. The cellular membrane thermostability (CMT) assay indirectly measures integrity of cellular membranes through quantifying electrolyte leakage following heat treatment. Higher CMT has been related to heat tolerance and higher yields in several crop species, but its utility and relationship with seed cotton yield (SCY) is not well established. Experiments were carried out in the greenhouse and in the field under optimum and high temperature regimes, to assess the response of upland cotton to CMT. Upland cotton cultivars as well as hybrids differed significantly (P<0.01) for CMT. Although the temperature regimes modified the relative ranking of the cultivars and hybrids, heat-tolerant and susceptible groups remained quite stable. Cultivars FH-900, MNH-552, CRIS-19, and Karishma emerged as relatively heat-tolerant (thermostable) and FH-634, CIM-448, HR109-RT and CIM-443 as heat-susceptible. Exposure to high temperature prior to the CMT test produced better distinction between heat-tolerant and heat-susceptible cultivars and hybrids. The relationship between CMT and SCY was stronger among cultivars than among hybrids. The regression analysis indicated higher SCY due to higher CMT in the presence of heat stress. CMT was positively related to SCY under supra-optimum greenhouse conditions as well as early and late field regimes. Under optimum (non-stressed) greenhouse conditions, however, CMT was negatively related to SCY, indicating that susceptible cultivars and hybrids produced higher yields in the absence of heat stress. This also implied that in upland cotton these two traits were independent of each other, the presence or absence of heat stress determined their relationship. The differential ability of cotton cultivars and hybrids to adjust to CMT under heat-stressed conditions points towards physiological adaptation to heat stress or heat hardening in upland cotton. It was concluded that CMT could be a useful technique for differentiating heat-tolerant and susceptible cottons, however, its indirect selection on the basis of SCY under non-heat-stressed environments must be implemented with caution.

Introduction

Cotton is a summer crop but excessively high temperature impairs its growth and reproduction. In cotton growing districts of the Punjab and Sindh provinces (Pakistan), summers are severe and maximum temperature often exceeds 45 °C. Such high temperatures cause considerable damage to cotton and are a major concern to physiologists and breeders working in stress environments. The temperature regime during the month of August, corresponding to peak flowering, is significantly associated with cotton yield: high temperatures being associated with lower yield and low maximum temperatures with higher yield (Oosterhuis, 1999). Temperature changes may act directly by modifying existing physiological processes, and indirectly by inducing an altered pattern of development after the imposition of temperature change (Downton and Slatyer, 1972). In cotton, for example, the production of successive nodes on the main stem and the time interval between the production of successive flowers on the successive fruiting branches on the main stem and between the first two flowers on the same fruiting branch is temperature dependent (Hesketh et al., 1972).

The traditional view is that the high temperature limit for most plants is determined by irreversible denaturation of enzymes. Although enzymes play a critical role, changes in cell membrane properties due to high temperature stress have recently received considerable attention. High temperature modifies composition and structure of cell membranes by weakening the hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions between the polar group of proteins within the aqueous phase of the membrane. Thus, integral membrane proteins (which are associated with both hydrophilic and lipid regions of the membrane) tend to associate more strongly with the lipid phase. Disruption and damage to membranes alters their permeability, and results in loss of solute (electrolytes). The consensus is that electrolyte leakage reflects damage to cellular membranes (McDaniel, 1982) and is therefore an important factor in heat tolerance.

Sullivan (1972) developed a heat tolerance test that determines cellular membrane thermostability (CMT) through measuring the amount of electrolyte leakage from leaf discs bathed in de-ionized water after exposure to heat treatment. Modification to this method has also been proposed for specific crops (Blum and Ebercon, 1981, Tahir and Singh, 1993). Sullivan and Ross (1979) later used this procedure to identify genetic variability for heat tolerance in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) and related this variability to field performance of several varieties grown under high temperature stress. CMT has been used as a measure of heat tolerance in several other crops, including soybean (Martineau et al., 1979), potato and tomato (Chen et al., 1982), wheat (Saadallah et al., 1990, Blum et al., 2001), cowpea (Ismail and Hall, 1999) and citrus (ZhongHai et al., 1999). Wallner et al. (1982) and Marcum (1999) used CMT to screen turfgrass and Kentucky blue grass, respectively, for heat tolerance.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate CMT as an indicator of heat tolerance in upland cotton and determine its relationship with seed cotton yield (SCY) under heat-stressed and non-stressed conditions.

Section snippets

Location, entries and regimes

The experiments were carried out at Cotton Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan. The experimental material comprised eight upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cultivars and 15 F1 hybrids (together referred to as entries). Both cultivars and hybrids were included in the experimental material since cultivars and hybrids carry different genotypic organization, cultivars being homozygous and hybrids heterozygous for most of the loci, and therefore, were expected to show differential response

Greenhouse experiment

Cultivars and hybrids were analysed separately. Cultivars as well as hybrids differed significantly (P<0.01) among themselves for the expression of RCI% in the greenhouse (Table 1). The cultivar×temperature regimes and hybrid×temperature regimes interactions were also significant (P<0.01), indicating a differential response of cultivars as well as hybrids across temperature regimes. The correlation coefficient between the RCI values in optimum and supra-optimum regimes was non-significant (r

Discussion

RCI is an indicator of cellular or tissue heat tolerance. Low RCI reflects high CMT and high RCI low CMT. Cotton cultivars as well as hybrids responded differentially for CMT across temperature regimes. Wide temperature variation in the greenhouse regimes resulted in strong cultivar×temperature regime and hybrid×temperature regime interactions. The impact of field regime in modifying CMT was not very strong because of relatively low temperature variation across field regimes as compared to the

Conclusion

It can be concluded that CMT can be useful in discriminating heat-tolerant and susceptible cotton types. However, indirect selection for CMT on the basis of SCY under non-heat-stressed environments should only be implemented with caution. The lack of association between CMT and SCY in the absence of heat stress may be useful for the breeders, as it provides an opportunity for independent selection of the two traits. Efficient utility of CMT in cotton breeding programs, for the purpose of

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