PHOTOSYNTHETICA

Photosynthetica 2005, 43(3):371-377 | DOI: 10.1007/s11099-005-0061-7

UV-A screening in plants determined using a new portable fluorimeter

C. A. Kolb¹, U. Schreiber¹, R. Gademann¹, E. E. Pfundel^1,*

¹ Julius-von-Sachs Institut fur Biowissenschaften, Universitat Wurzburg, Julius-von-Sachs-Platz, Wurzburg, Germany

UV screening by plant surfaces can be determined by exposing plant organs to UV radiation and measuring the chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence elicited. From this fluorescence, the UV transmittance can be derived: the more intense the screening the lower the reporter Chl fluorescence and the lower the UV transmittance. The relationships between UV screening at 375 nm, as determined in the field by a portable UV-A-PAM fluorimeter, and UV screening at 314 and 360 nm, measured in the laboratory with the non-portable XE-PAM fluorimeter, were investigated in leaves of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Bacchus) and barley (Hordeum vulgare cv. Ricarda), as well as in white grape berries. With leaves, linear trends were observed between XE-PAM measurements at 314 nm and UV-A-PAM measurements at 375 nm but the relationship between transmittance at 360 and 375 nm in barley was curved: a simple model calculation suggests that this curvi-linearity arises from particularly weak absorbance of barley flavonoids at 375 nm relative to absorbance at 360 nm. Transmittance values at 314 nm plotted against 375 nm yielded a much smaller slope in grapevine leaves than in barley leaves, which was attributed to screening in the short-wavelength UV by hydroxycinnamic acids in the former but not in the latter species. With grape berries, a poor correlation was detected between transmittances at 314 and 375 nm which might arise from high scattering of UV radiation at the berry surface. Such artefacts appear to be confined to the UV-B region, as berry transmittance at 360 nm correlated very well with that at 375 nm. Thus, assessment of UV screening in the field at short UV wavelengths using 375 nm readings from a UV-A-PAM fluorimeter is possible provided that information is available on the relationship between the transmittance at the UV wavelength of interest and at 375 nm for the sample tissue being investigated.

Additional key words: apigenin; berry; comparison of devices; flavonoids; Hordeum; leaf; luteolin; transmittance; Vitis

Received: February 14, 2005; Accepted: May 23, 2005; Published: September 1, 2005  Show citation