Varying light regimes in naturally growing Jatropha curcus: pigment, proline and photosynthetic performance

Light stress is a major abiotic stress which adversely affects productivity of the plants. Tolerance to abiotic stresses is very complex, due to the intricate of interactions between stress factors and various molecular, biochemical and physiological phenomena affecting plant growth and development. In many cases, high yield potential can contribute to yield in moderate stress environment. We studied chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence parameters and analyzed D1 core protein in one year old plants of Jatropha curcus under different light regimes (10-1200 μmol m-2 s-1) in sun and shade plants. Chl a fluorescence provides insights into the responses of the photosynthetic system to increasing irradiance. Total Chl content was 1.43 and 0.61 mg/g-1 FM for shade and sun exposed plants respectively. The effective quantum yield (ΔF/Fm') of the sun plants was lower as compared to shade plants but the amount of the D1 core protein was higher in plants grown under high light intensity. A decrease in ΔF/Fm' indicates down regulation of photosynthesis or photoinhibition. D1 protein is the membrane protein complex of the PSII reaction centre. The degradation of D1 protein may regulate the functioning of the PSII repair cycle under photoinhibitory conditions. It has been shown that low-light grown or shade plants are more susceptible to photoinhibition than high light or sun plants. This higher susceptibility is accompanied by slow degradation of damaged D1 protein. High light intensity or exposure to photooxidation leads to the irreversible damage in photosynthetic performance and consequently has an overall inhibitory effect on crop productivity.