Combined effects of O3 and UV radiation on secondary metabolites and endogenous hormones of soybean leaves

Enhanced ultraviolet radiation (UV) and elevated tropospheric ozone (O3) may individually cause reductions in the growth and productivity of important agricultural crops. However, research regarding their combined effects on important agricultural crops is still scarce, especially on changes in secondary metabolites and endogenous hormones, which are important protective substances and signal components that control plant responses to environment stresses. In this study, using an experimental setup of open top chambers, we monitored the responses of seed yield per plant, leaf secondary metabolites and leaf endogenous hormones under the stress of elevated O3 and enhanced UV radiation individually, as well as their combined stress. The results indicated that elevated O3 (110 ± 10 nmol mol-1 for 8 hours per day) and enhanced UV radiation (1.73 kJ h-1 m-2) significantly decreased seed yield per plant. Concentrations of rutin, queretin and total flavonoids were significantly increased under the elevated O3 treatment or the enhanced UV radiation treatment or the combination treatment at flowering and podding stages, and concentrations of rutin, queretin and total flavonoids showed significant correlations with seed yield per plant. Concentrations of ABA and IAA decreased under the three treatments. There was a significant positive correlation between the ABA concentration and seed yield and a negative correlation between the IAA concentration and seed yield. We concluded that the combined stress of elevated O3 and UV radiation significantly decreased seed yield per plant. Yield reduction was associated with changes in the concentrations of flavonoids, ABA and IAA in soybean leaves. The effects of the combined O3 and UV stress were always greater than those of the individual stresses alone.