Effect of heat acclimation on thermotolerance of in vitro strawberry plantlets

Strawberry production is facing a serious decline with the increase in global temperature as a result of climate change. Improving the heat tolerance is imperative for the strawberry plants to remain productive under high temperature conditions. The present work aimed to study the effect of heat acclimation on the thermotolerance of strawberry plants subjected to severe heat stress. Tissue cultured Fragaria ‘Taoyuan No. 1’ plantlets were subjected to four heat-acclimation treatments with gradual increase of temperatures from 30°C to 42°C for 1.25 hr to 10 hr before exposing them to the lethal temperature of 48°C for 4 hr. Survival, new leaf emergence and root growth, electrolyte leakage, chlorophyll and proline contents, as well as antioxidant enzyme activities were compared between the control, acclimated and non-acclimated plantlets. Results indicated that heat acclimation was required for the strawberry plantlets to survive under lethal temperature conditions. The acclimated plantlets registered a lower degree of electrolyte leakage and chlorophyll degradation, and a higher proline content compared to the non-acclimated plantlets. The activities of the antioxidant enzymes increased with the elevation of acclimation temperature and peaked at 42°C except for ascorbate peroxidase (APX) whose activity peaked at 39°C. Higher activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), APX, glutathione reductase (GR), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) were observed in the acclimated plantlets compared to the non-acclimated plantlets. This study demonstrates that heat acclimation improved the thermotolerance of in vitro strawberry plantlets by reducing electrolyte leakage and chlorophyll degradation, as well as by enhancing proline content and antioxidant enzyme activities under severe heat stress.