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Physiology and Biochemistry

Symptom Expression and Free Sterol and Fatty Acid Composition of Flue-cured Tobacco Plants Exposed to Ozone. L. E. Trevathan, Former graduate assistant, Department of Plant Pathology and Physiology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, 24061, Address of senior author: Department of Plant Pathology and Weed Science, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762; L. D. Moore(2), and D. M. Orcutt(3). (2)(3)Associate professor of Plant Pathology, and assistant professor of Plant Physiology, respectively, Department of Plant Pathology and Physiology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, 24061. Phytopathology 69:582-585. Accepted for publication 7 December 1978. Copyright 1979 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-69-582.

Two flue-cured tobacco cultivars, North Carolina 88 and Coker 86, were fumigated with 0 to 0.30 ppm ozone (O₃) for 6 hr. Both cultivars were highly sensitive to O₃. Plants fumigated with concentrations of O₃ greater than 0.15 ppm displayed typical weather fleck symptoms. Fumigation for 6 hr with 0.25 or 0.30 ppm O₃ resulted in a significant increase in the lipid concentration but a decrease in the concentration of free sterols and triglyceride fatty acids in all leaf tissues. These changes were not correlated with injury ratings. It is postulated that triglyceride fatty acids and other cellular components were being utilized for membrane repair.