Amelioration of oxidative damage in Solanum melongena seedlings by 24-epibrassinolide during chilling stress and recovery

The effects of foliar application of 24-epibrassinolide (EBR) on chlorophyll content, oxidative damage, and antioxidant capacity in eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) seedlings during a short-term chilling stress and subsequent recovery were investigated. The eggplant seedlings pretreated with 0.1 μM EBR were exposed to 5 °C for 12 h in the dark and then recovered under a normal temperature for another 12 h. The results show that EBR alleviated a chilling-induced oxidative stress reflected by a decrease in malondialdehyde and H2O2 content, O2 .- production rate, and an increase in chlorophyll content and activities of superoxide dismutase, guaicol peroxidase, and catalase. The EBR pretreatment also promoted activities of ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione reductase, dehydroascorbate reductase, as well as the accumulation of ascorbic acid (AsA) and glutathione (GSH) involved in the AsA-GSH cycle. Moreover, after the12 h recovery, EBR plus chilling treated leaves showed no significant changes in content of MDA and chlorophyll a, lower reactive oxygen species (ROS) content, and greater activities of AsA-GSH cycle enzymes than in seedlings only chilled. The results suggest that EBR alleviated an oxidative damage caused by the dark chilling stress and accelerated a recovery rate mainly through increasing the ROS scavenging system including the AsA-GSH cycle.