Analysis Effects of Lead on Chlorophyll Fluorescence of Wheat Leaves with Confocal Software

Abstract

Soil contamination with heavy metals will lead to losses in agricultural yield and hazardous health effects as they enter into the food chain. The lead contamination exerts a wide range of adverse effects on growth and metabolism of plants. In present studies, we investigated the effect of lead on chlorophyll fluorescence of wheat leaves with confocal microscope. The digital images of chlorophyll in the wheat leaves were acquired with a computer linked to confocal microscope. Then the fluorescence intensity of chlorophyll was quantified with confocal software. The results showed that the fluorescence intensity of chlorophyll was higher than the control at 100 and 500 Pb mg kg -1 DW soil on fourteenth and twenty-first days. However, the fluorescence intensity of chlorophyll was lower than the control at 2000 Pb mg kg -1 DW soil on fourteenth and twenty-first days. On twenty-eighth day, the fluorescence intensity of chlorophyll was higher than the control at 100 Pb mg kg -1 DW soil, but the fluorescence intensity of chlorophyll was lower than the control at 500 and 1000 Pb mg kg -1 DW soil. Moreover, we established a method to analysis the effects of heavy metals on chlorophyll fluorescence with the digital images of confocal microscope, which is an easy and simple job.