The role of calcium in regulating photosynthesis and related physiological indexes of cucumber seedlings under low light intensity and suboptimal temperature stress

The response of photosynthesis, antioxidant enzyme activity, and proline content to low light intensity and suboptimal temperature in Cucumis sativa L. seedlings pretreated with either distilled water, 10 mM CaCl₂, 1 mM LaCl₃, 3 mM ethyleneglycol-bis-(2-aminoethyl) tetraacetic acid (EGTA) or 0.05 mM chlorpromazine (CPZ) were investigated. The results showed that 10 mM CaCl₂ led to an increase in photosynthetic rate (Pn), carboxylation efficiency (CE), ribulose 1,5-biphosphate carboxylase (RuBPCase) activity, chlorophyll content, peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) activity, and proline content of cucumber seedlings under low light intensity and suboptimal temperature, in comparison with the distilled water-pretreated seedlings. However, LaCl₃, EGTA and CPZ were in contrast to CaCl₂. These results suggest that CaCl₂ has beneficial effect on photosynthetic adaptation to low light and suboptimal temperature stress in cucumber seedlings. This might be related to the observed increase in RuBPCase activity, alleviation of lipid peroxidation and enhancement of osmoregulation, with these effects being inhibited by LaCl₃, EGTA and CPZ.