Effects of chilling stress on chill-resistance physiological and biochemical indexes of eggplant seedlings

The physiological and biochemical indexes related to chill resistance in the leaves of two different chilling sensitive eggplant cultivars were investigated under 5 ℃ and 8 ℃ low temperatures compared with the normal temperature 25 ℃ (control).The results showed that as the temperature dropped,the permeability of plasma membrane and the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) increased,the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) raised in two cultivars.Catalase (CAT) activities in high chilling-resistance cultivar decreased at the beginning of chilling stress and then increased,and in low chilling resistance cultivar decreased first and then increased,but there was no big difference among treatments and the control.The raising trend of proline (Pro) content was found with chilling stress.The chilling resistant cultivar showed higher activities of SOD and POD,lower permeability of plasma membrane and production of MDA,and induction of more proline content.