Cold-hardened winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Fredrick) and winter barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Dover) were exposed to total flooding at 2 C. Dover seedlngs were damaged more quickly than Fredrick, and after 3 weeks of flooding the survival of Dover was reduced to 10% and Fredrick to about 50%. Tissue moisture was slightly greater in Dover than Fredrick throughout the 4-week flooding period. Carbon dioxide and ethanol accumulated throughout the 4-week flooding period in both cultivars. Lactic acid increased rapidly during the 1st week of flooding, and remained relatively constant during the remainder of the flooding period. Oxygen consumption of seedling shoot tissue after exposure to flooding declined abruptly after only 1 day of flooding, but recovered somewhat during the subsequent 2 weeks. The effect of flooding was more pronounced on the ultrastructure of Dover than Fredrick. Although proliferation of endoplasmic reticulum was observed in the early stages of flooding in both cultivars, the occurrence of distinct parallel arrays and concentric whorls of membranes was prevalent in the flooded barley. Severe ultrastructural damage to a large proportion of apical cells in both cultivars was observed after 2 to 3 weeks of flooding.Exposure of plants to partial or total flooding results in major alterations in various physiological and metabolic processes (5,8,9,21,22). In flooding-intolerant species, normal respiration is blocked or severely inhibited resulting in enhanced rates of glycolysis, accumulation of one or more potentially toxic metabolites of anaerobic metabolism, and injury to the plant (5, 17). Respiratory processes of flooding-tolerant species are not as adversely affected by flooding (15, 16), and hence the accumulation of anaerobic metabolites and associated injury is generally less pronounced than in flooding-intolerant species (5, 8). Therefore, we concluded (8) lesser degree in some plant species. Ethylene was shown to increase sharply during flooding and was associated with injury in several plant species (12, 13). It also was observed that tolerance to anoxia in germinating seeds (7) and grasses (4) is greater when the metabolic rate is reduced at low temperature. Flooding of winter cereals frequently occurs during autumn and spring in northeastern United States and eastern Canada. Low temperature flooding is currently being investigated in this laboratory as one of the factors influencing the winter survival of cereals. This paper reports changes in survival, cellular ultrastructure, and metabolic properties of a winter wheat and a winter barley during low temperature flooding in controlled environment conditions.
MATERIALS AND METHODSCold-acclimated seedlings of Fredrick winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and Dover winter barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) were used in this investigation. Seedlings were grown in soil for 5 days at 20 C light, 15 C dark with a 16-h day at a light intensity of 525 ,uE m-2 S-1 (about 35,000 lux) and then were transferred to 2 C light, 0 C dark wit...