A Preliminary Study on Physiological and Molecular Effects of Iron Deficiency in Fuji/Chistock 1

Abstract

In order to get experimental data on apple rootstock with iron-efficient genotypes capable of improving scion resistance to iron deficiency, this experiment was conducted on the physiological and molecular characteristics of Fuji/ Chistock 1 (F/C) under different iron conditions and compared it to Fuji/ M. Baccata (F/B). F/C was less sensitive to iron deficiency than F/B. F/B showed chlorosis after 25 days under iron-deficient conditions, but F/C showed no phenotypic changes, even after 40 days. The shoot and leaf area growth of F/C were respectively 5cm and 1000 mm² higher than those of F/B, regardless of the iron-deficient or iron-efficient conditions. The young leaf chlorophyll and active iron of F/C were 5 SPAD and 5 mg kg⁻¹ higher than those of F/B, either in iron-deficient or iron-efficient conditions. The expression of YSL5 and CS1 showed the same pattern. The enhancement expression of iron transport genes may be one explanation for these findings.

Keywords:

• graft
• Malus
• response to iron deficiency
• rootstock

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a grant (NC2010BF0075) from China 863 Project and the Project of Science and Technology Support (200903044, NYHYZX07-24).