Interactive effects of drought stresses and elevated CO2 concentration on photochemistry efficiency of cucumber seedlings

To reveal and quantify the interactive effects of drought stresses and elevated CO2 concentration [CO2] on photochemistry efficiency of cucumber seedlings, the portable chlorophyll meter was used to measure the chlorophyll content, and the Imaging-PAM was used to image the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and rapid light response curves (RLC) of leaves in two adjacent greenhouses. The results showed that chlorophyll content of leaves was reduced significantly with drought stress aggravated. Minimal fluorescence (Fo) was increased while maximal quantum yield of PSII (Fv/Fm) decreased significantly by severe drought stress. The significant decrease of effective quantum yield of PSII (Y(II)) accompanied by the significant increase of quantum yield of regulated energy dissipation (Y(NPQ)) was observed under severe drought stress condition, but there was no change of quantum yield of nonregulated energy dissipation (Y(NO)). We detected that the coefficient of photochemical quenching (qP) decreased, and non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) increased significantly under severe drought stress. Furthermore, we found that maximum apparent electron transport rate (ETRmax) and saturating photosynthetically active radiation (PPFDsat) decreased significantly with drought stress aggravated. However, elevated [CO2] significantly increased Fv/Fm, qP and PPFDsat, and decreased NPQ under all water conditions, although there were no significant effects on chlorophyll content, Fo, Y(II), Y(NPQ), Y(NO) and ETRmax. Therefore, it is concluded that CO2-fertilized greenhouses or elevated atmospheric [CO2] in the future could be favorable for cucumber growth and development, and beneficial to alleviate the negative effects of drought stresses to a certain extent.