Low temperature is an important environmental factor that affects plant growth and development. To determine the adaptability of different organs of Paederia scandens (Lour.) Merr. to low temperature, the chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence parameters as well as the Chl, malondialdehyde (MDA), soluble sugar, and anthocyanin contents of leaves and stems were measured under low temperature. The results confirmed that the Chl fluorescence parameters and Chl content of the leaves and stems of P. scandens tended to decrease consistently, while the MDA content increased, and the change range of the stems was much lower than that of the leaves. The soluble sugar and anthocyanin contents rapidly increased in the leaves and stems to cope with low temperature. Our results suggest that stems are more tolerant than leaves during winter and may continue to grow during that time, which could provide theoretical guidance for clonal propagation of plants to study stem tolerance in the future.

FTL10 is an early flowering mutant of OsFTL10-suppressed transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.) with premature senescence phenotype. Early leaf senescence can cause negative effects on rice yield, therefore delaying leaf senescence and prolonging the leaf functional stage is one of the important approaches to increase the rice yield. It is well known that ascorbic acid (AsA) is involved in regulating plant growth. To explore the effect of AsA on leaf senescence of FTL10, we treated rice leaves with 0.28 mM AsA. Results showed that total antioxidant capacity was higher and reactive oxygen species were lower in the AsA-treated group. The expression of senescence-associated genes was higher in the control group. Exogenous AsA can stabilize chlorophyll and Rubisco protein contents, delay leaf senescence, and maintain net photosynthetic rate (PN) of rice leaves. Our results suggest that exogenous application of AsA can delay leaf senescence, increase PN, and then increase the rice yield.