Tebuconazole regulates fatty acid composition of etiolated winter wheat seedlings

The fatty acid composition of shoots of unhardened and hardened to cold etiolated winter wheat seedlings grown from seeds treated with tebuconazole-based protectant «Bunker» (content of tebuconazole 60 grams per liter, g/L), and the seedlings frost resistance has been studied. It is shown that treatment of winter wheat seeds by «Bunker» preparation (1,5 microliter per gram of seeds, µl/g) is accompanied by an increase of the fatty acids unsaturation in the shoots and increase of the seedlings frost resistance (-8°C, 24 h). The most pronounced decrease in the content of saturated palmitic acid and increase in the content of unsaturated α-linolenic acid were observed during cold hardening of winter wheat seedlings grown from seeds treated by tebuconazole-based protectant. It is concluded that the seeds treatment with tebuconazole-based protectant causes changes of fatty acid composition of winter wheat seedlings to increase their frost resistance.