Resumo O alagamento do solo é um estressor ambiental para as culturas e pode afetar o desempenho fisiológico e reduzir a produtividade das culturas. Estresses abióticos causam mudanças na síntese de proteínas, modificando os níveis de uma série de proteínas, em especial as proteínas de choque térmico (HSP) e essas proteínas são conhecidas por proteger as plantas contra estresses abióticos. O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar se as plantas do tomateiro cv. Micro-Tom de distintos genótipos com diferentes níveis de expressão da MT-sHSP23.6 (proteínas mitocondriais de choque térmico com pequena massa molecular), têm diferentes respostas fisiológicas ao alagamento. As plantas de três genótipos (não-transformado, transformado com orientação antisense e transformado com orientação sense para MT-sHSP23.6) foram cultivadas sob condições controladas. Após 50 dias as plantas foram alagadas durante 14 dias. Após esse período as plantas de cada genótipo foram recuperadas. Foram avaliados fluorescência da clorofila, trocas gasosas, índice de clorofila, área foliar e massa seca. O estresse por alagamento afetou a cadeia de transporte de elétrons da fotossíntese, que está relacionado à inativação do complexo de evolução do oxigênio, perda da conectividade entre as unidades do fotossistema II, de oxidação e redução do pool de plastoquinona e atividade do fotossistema I. O genótipo com orientação sense MT-sHSP23.6 foi menos sensível ao estresse por alagamento.

Abstract Soil flooding is an environmental stressor for crops that can affect physiological performance and reduce crop yields. Abiotic stressors cause changes in protein synthesis, modifying the levels of a series of proteins, especially the heat shock proteins (HSP), and these proteins can help protect the plants against abiotic stress. The objective of this study was to verify if tomato plants cv. Micro-Tom from different genotypes with varying expression levels of MT-sHSP23.6 (mitochondrial small heat shock proteins) have different responses physiological to flooding. Plants from three genotypes (untransformed, MT-sHSP23.6 sense expression levels and MT-sHSP23.6 antisense expression levels) were cultivated under controlled conditions. After 50 days, the plants were flooded for 14 days. After this period half of the plants from each genotype were allowed to recover. Chlorophyll fluorescence, gas exchange, chlorophyll index, leaf area and dry matter were evaluated. Flood stress affected the photosynthetic electron transport chain, which is related to inactivation of the oxygen-evolving complex, loss of connectivity among units in photosystem II, oxidation-reduction of the plastoquinone pool and activity of photosystem I. The genotype with MT-sHSP23.6 sense expression levels was less sensitive to stress from flooding.

O pinhão-manso (Jatropha curcas L.) tem-se destacado, no cenário do biodiesel, em função da porcentagem de óleo contido nas sementes e de sua capacidade adaptativa. No País, a cultura do pinhão-manso tem, como proposta, o desenvolvimento agronômico, razão pela qual o uso consorciado pode ser importante aos pequenos produtores. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar algumas características fenológicas de pinhão-manso cultivado em dois regimes de luminosidade (pleno sol e sombrite 50%) relacionando com a sazonalidade climática e se utilizando de parâmetros da fluorescência da clorofila e de trocas gasosas. As plantas apresentaram crescimento vegetativo com padrão sazonal, com pico de crescimento no início de março, quando iniciou a senescência foliar. Alguns parâmetros da fluorescência transiente da clorofila analisados pelo Teste JIP, apresentaram relação com as flutuações ambientais. O PI ABS e o PItotal demonstraram que as plantas do tratamento sombreado foram sensíveis à redução de luminosidade. A taxa assimilatória líquida e a eficiência de carboxilação reduziram ao longo do experimento acompanhando a queda da radiação solar; já as plantas de pinhão-manso respondem negativamente a essas condições de sombreamento.

Jatropha curcas L. has been prominent in the scenario of biodiesel due to the percentage of oil contained in the seeds and its adaptive capacity. The cultivation of J. curcas in the country has as proposal the agronomic development and its consortium may be important for small producers. This study aimed to characterize the phenological behavior of J. curcas grown under different light conditions, full sun and 50% shade, relating them to the climatic seasonality, comparing their development with chlorophyll a fluorescence and gas exchange. Plants showed vegetative growth with seasonal pattern, with growth peak at the beginning of March, when the leaf senescence began. The analysis of the kinetic of the transient fluorescence of chlorophyll presented a relationship between certain parameters of the test JIP and the environmental fluctuations. The PI ABS and the PItotal demonstrated that in the shaded treatment plants were sensitive to luminosity reduction. The liquid assimilation rate and the carboxylation efficiency decreased throughout the experiment, accompanying the decline of the solar radiation. J. curcas plants respond negatively to these shaded conditions.

With Japonica rice BRS Firmeza and indica rice BRS Pelota (low and high grain yield, respectively) as materials, Chl content and Chl a fluorescence parameters in flag leaves from the heading to mature grain stage were investigated. The Chl content and the Chl a fluorescence were measured using a portable chlorophyll meter CL-01 and portables fluorometer Handy-PEA and FMS-2 (Hansatech, Kings Lynn, UK), respectively. All measurements were taken on middle part of the flag leaves (n = 10). The results showed that the Chl content and Chl a fluorescence parameters declined after full expansion of flag leaves in both rice cultivars. However, these biochemical and photochemical parameters did not show similar changing pattern and the behavior of flag leaves senescence showed some differences between BRS Pelota and BRS Firmeza rice cultivars. During the senescence of flag leaves, BRS Pelota, the rice cultivar with higher grain yield capacity, was characterized by significant reductions in Chl content, PI ABS,Total, TR0/ABS, ET0/ABS, ET0/TR0, RC/ABS compared to BRS Firmeza. On the other hand, DI0/RC, TR0/RC and ET0/RC were significantly higher in BRS Pelota. These results show that the decreased photosystem II activity, evaluated through chlorophyll fluorescence analysis, was resultant of leaves senescence process, which was much more expressive in BRS Pelota rice variety. We suggest that the higher productivity of BRS Pelota rice cultivar results from its higher assimilate mobilization ability or energy usage efficiency, in despite of its lower light absorption capacity.