Use of electrolyte leakage to assess floral damage after freezing

• Published in: Applications in plant sciences Vol. 12; no. 5; pp. e11569 - n/a
• Main Authors: Savage, Jessica A., Hudzinski, Sydney J., Olson, Mady R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.09.2024; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Animal reproduction; cold hardiness; Cold tolerance; Conductivity; Electrolyte leakage; Electrolytes; flower; flowers; Flowers & plants; freezing tolerance; plant reproduction; Protocol; Protocol Note; signal-to-noise ratio; Temperature; temperature response curve; Temperature tolerance; Water; United States > US; conductivity; temperature response curve; electrolyte leakage; freezing tolerance; cold hardiness; flower
• ISSN: 2168-0450; 2168-0450
• DOI: 10.1002/aps3.11569

Premise With growing interest in the impact of false springs on plant reproduction, there is the need to develop reliable, high‐throughput methods for assessing floral freezing damage. Here we present a method for use with floral tissue that will facilitate more comparative work on floral freezing tolerance in the future. Methods and Results We examined the effectiveness of a modified electrolyte leakage protocol to assess floral freezing damage. By comparing data from temperature response curves to an estimate of visual tissue damage, we optimized the protocol for different floral types and improved the signal‐to‐noise ratio for floral data. Conclusions Our modified protocol provides a quick and straightforward method for quantifying floral freezing damage that can be standardized across floral types. This method allows for cross‐species comparisons and can be a powerful tool for studying broad patterns in floral freezing tolerance.