Changes in the content of low-molecular antioxidants and carbohydrates in pinus silvestris, rosa acicularis, ledum palustre in the context of the transition to winter dormancy in Yakutia

Abstract

The accumulation of low-molecular antioxidants and carbohydrates in three wintering plants of Yakutia in the summer-autumn period (July, August, September) was studied. Determining the content of the sum of low-molecular antioxidants (LMAO), the sum of flavonoids, ascorbic acid, and the sum of carbohydrates was conducted spectrofotometrically in the needles of pinus silvestris L. and annual shoots of ledum palustre L., rosa acicularis Lindl. The research shows that in general a decrease of temperature (a transition from summer months to autumn months) increases the content of LMAO in the three examined plants. The study also shows that an increase of the LMAO amount in the content descends to a greater extent due to the accumulation of ascorbic acid. In the dynamics of accumulation of flavonoids during the studied period, the maximum was noticed in August and followed by a decline in September. In the dynamics of the content of carbohydrates (reducing sugars), as well as the LMAO, was revealed a gradual increase in the period from July to September. The wide fluctuations in the content of the sum of LMAO, ascorbic acid, and flavonoids with decreasing temperature were found in the rosa acicularis Lindl, as well as in the sugars in the needles of pinus silvestris L. Thus, the revealed dynamics of accumulation of LMAO in wintering plants (fraction of flavonoids, ascorbic acid) in the period of preparation for the transition to winter dormancy did not show the presence of an explicit dependence on the accumulation of the main cryoprotectants of plants, i.e. carbohydrates.