Heat-induced leaf senescence and hormonal changes for thermal bentgrass and turf-type bentgrass species differing in heat tolerance

Leaf senescence can be induced by many environmental stresses, including supraoptimal temperatures. The objectives of this study were to evaluate leaf senescence induced by heat stress for two Agrostis species contrasting in heat tolerance and to examine whether heat-induced leaf senescence in both species was associated with changes in three major senescence-related hormones: ethylene, abscisic acid (ABA), and cytokinins. Plants of heat-tolerant rough bentgrass (Agrostis scabra Willd.) and heat-sensitive creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) were exposed to 35/30 degrees C (day/night) (high temperature) or 20/15 degrees C (control) for 35 d in growth chambers. Turf quality, photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm), and the contents of two pigments (chlorophyll and carotenoid) for both species decreased under high temperature; however, heat-tolerant A. scabra exhibited delayed and less severe decline in all parameters compared with heat-sensitive A. stolonifera. Ethylene production rate increased in both species at 35 degrees C, but the increase was observed 21 days later in A. scabra compared with that in A. stolonifera. ABA content increased at the initiation of heat stress and then declined in both species after prolonged heat stress. However, the timing of the increase was delayed for 7 days and the highest level of ABA content was less in A. scabra (4.0 times that of the control) than that in A. stolonifera (5.9 times that of the control). Decreases in both forms of cytokinins (transzeatin/zeatin riboside and isopentenyl adenosine) were also delayed for 14 days and less pronounced in A. scabra. Correlation analysis revealed that leaf senescence induced by heat stress was negatively correlated to ethylene and ABA accumulation and positively correlated to cytokinin production. Delayed leaf senescence in A. scabra under heat stress could be related to slower and less magnitude of changes in ethylene, ABA, and cytokinins.