Implementation of theoretical non-photochemical quenching (NPQ (T) ) to investigate NPQ of chickpea under drought stress with High-throughput Phenotyping.

Abstract

Abstract Non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) is a protective mechanism for dissipating excess energy generated during photosynthesis in the form of heat. The accelerated relaxation of the NPQ in fluctuating light can lead to an increase in the yield and dry matter productivity of crops. Since the measurement of NPQ is time-consuming and requires specific light conditions, theoretical NPQ (NPQ(T)) was introduced for rapid estimation, which could be suitable for High-throughput Phenotyping. We investigated the potential of NPQ(T) to be used for testing plant genetic resources of chickpea under drought stress with non-invasive High-throughput Phenotyping complemented with yield traits. Besides a high correlation between the hundred-seed-weight and the Estimated Biovolume, significant differences were observed between the two types of chickpea desi and kabuli for Estimated Biovolume and NPQ(T). Desi was able to maintain the Estimated Biovolume significantly better under drought stress. One reason could be the effective dissipation of excess excitation energy in photosystem II, which can be efficiently measured as NPQ(T). Screening of plant genetic resources for photosynthetic performance could take pre-breeding to a higher level and can be implemented in a variety of studies, such as here with drought stress or under fluctuating light in a High-throughput Phenotyping manner using NPQ(T).

Plant phenotyping relevance

NPQ(T)による光合成生理形質の迅速推定を高スループット表現型解析へ実装し、その適用可能性を評価しており、表現型取得法が研究の中心です。

Code and data availability

The paper reports chickpea HTP phenotype measurements (Estimated Biovolume, NPQ(T), ФPSII, image-derived and yield traits) and R-based analysis, but no public repository, code deposit, or public dataset URL is provided. The Data availability statement explicitly restricts access to requests to the corresponding author;

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