EFFECTS OF REACTIVE HYDROCARBONS AND HYDROGEN-PEROXIDE ON ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY IN CHERRY LEAVES

One-year-old cherry trees were fumigated with propene and gas-phase hydrogen peroxide, singly and in combination, in controlled-environment chambers for an 8-week period during the summer season. A UV light source was included with the combined propene and hydrogen peroxide regime to provide a source of hydroxyl radicals and ozone, and thus all the constituents of a photochemical smog. Measurements were made of soluble protein concentration and of glutathione reductase activity in leaf extracts from two or three leaf classes in plants from each treatment regime at the end of each fumigation period. Significant increases in soluble protein concentration with respect to the controls were found in plants fumigated with propene and hydrogen peroxide. The occurrence and extent of these differences depended on the leaf class and on the timing of the fumigation period over the summer with respect to bud break. The activity of glutathione reductase was found to be significantly increased in mature lower leaves of plants which had been fumigated with hydrogen peroxide. This effect was independent of the timing of fumigation with respect to bud break. Enzyme activity was also increased in propene and in propene plus hydrogen peroxide treatments, but only when plants were fumigated early in the growth season.