부산대학교 도서관

Improper use of nicosulfuron (NSF) may induce harmful effects on plants during weed control. Melatonin (MT) regulates photosynthetic and physiological processes in plants. This study aimed to explore the effects of MT on alleviating NSF toxicity by measuring the growth parameters, photosynthetic capacity, and antioxidative responses in sweet corn seedlings. Compared to NSF alone, exogenous MT increased chlorophyll content, transpiration rate, net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, and maximum efficiency of PSⅡ photochemistry, while reduced malondialdehyde, hydrogen peroxide, superoxide anion radical, and proline contents. Moreover, MT also increased the activity of ascorbate peroxidase and the expression levels of ZmAPX1, ZmAPX2, ZmALS1, and ZmCYP81A9. The inhibition of p-chlorophenylalanine inhibited the positive effects of MT on photosynthetic and physiological indexes. The results indicated that pretreatment with MT might effectively mitigate NSF toxicity in sweet corn seedlings.