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 are important abiotic stress factors in agriculture. Plant growth, development, yield, and crop quality are significantly affected by low temperature stress. In the present study, 95 different common bean genotypes were grown in the growth chamber. As the control 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 for 8 hours and in light (day) at 25 o C for 16 hours. After fifteen days of low temperature stress, the experiment was completed to investigate calcium (Ca) intake in plants. Shoot Ca concentration of the genotypes were analyzed and genotypes were classified according to their Ca content. Therefore 24 genotypes were found to have less than ≤0.5%, 35 genotypes were found to have between 0.51 to1.0% and 36 genotypes were found to have between 1.01 to 3.0% Ca content under chilling stress.