Genotypic Variation in Calcium Uptake in Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) under Chilling Stress

Abstract

Plants are constantly exposed to different abiotic stresses throughout their lifecycle. Sub-optimal temperatures areimportant abiotic stress factors in agriculture. Plant growth, development, yield, and crop quality are significantly affected bylow temperature stress. In the present study, 95 different common bean genotypes were grown in the growth chamber. As thecontrol group, the growth chamber was designed to be 16/8 h light and dark with 25 °C and 20 °C day/night temperatures,respectively. Fifteen days old seedlings were exposed to chilling stress as cold stress treatment in the dark (night) at 4 °C for8 hours and in light (day) at 25 oC for 16 hours. After fifteen days of low temperature stress, the experiment was completed toinvestigate calcium (Ca) intake in plants. Shoot Ca concentration of the genotypes were analyzed and genotypes wereclassified according to their Ca content. Therefore 24 genotypes were found to have less than ?0.5%, 35 genotypes were foundto have between 0.51 to1.0% and 36 genotypes were found to have between 1.01 to 3.0% Ca content under chilling stress.