Phenotyping of faba beans (Vicia faba L.) under cold and heat stresses using chlorophyll fluorescence

Abstract

Temperature stress including low and high temperature adversely affect the growth, development and productivity of crops. Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is an important crop as both human food source and animal feed, which contains a range of varieties that are sensitive to cold and heat stresses. In this study, 127 faba bean genotypes were collected from gene banks based on differences in geographical origin. The 127 genotypes were treated by single cold stress (2/2 °C day/night temperature (DT/NT)) and 42 genotypes were treated by either single episode of cold or heat (38/30 °C DT/NT) stress, or a combination of both at photosynthetic photon flux density of 250 µmol m−2 s−1. Chlorophyll fluorescence was used to detect the tolerance of faba beans to low and high temperatures. The maximum quantum efficiency of photosystem II (PSII), Fv/Fm, revealed pronounced differences in cold tolerance among the faba bean genotypes. The 42 genotypes were clustered into four groups according to cold and heat stresses, respectively, and the susceptibilities of faba beans under temperature stress could be distinguished. The combination of cold and heat stresses could aggravate the damage on reproductive organs, but not on the leaves, as indicated by the Fv/Fm. These results confirm that the use of Fv/Fm is a useful approach for detecting low and high temperature damage to photosystem II and to identify tolerant faba bean genotypes, however the results also indicate that the geographical origin of the genotypes could not directly be used to predict climate resilience. These sources of cold- and heat-tolerance could improve the temperature tolerance of faba bean in breeding programs.