Effects of rapid changes in oxygen concentration on the respiration of carrot roots

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Rates of CO2 production and O2 consumption from aged disks of carrot (Daucus carota L.) root tissues were measured for 4 h after they were transferred from 21% to 0, 1, 2, 4 or 8% O2 in gas mixtures. A transient peak in the rate of CO2 production started 5 to 7 min after transfer to 2% or lower O2 mixtures and peaked at 50 min. After the peaks in CO2 production from the 0, 1 and 2% O2 treatments and after the stable production from the 4 and 8% O2 treatments, the rate of CO2 production from all low O2 treatments started to decline at 50 min, reaching stable rates by 160 to 240 min. Concentrations of lactate and ethanol that were significantly higher than the 21% O2 controls had started to accumulate in disks between 10 and 50 min after exposure to atmospheres containing 2% or less O2. Production of CO2 started to increase 5 to 7 min after transfer to 0, 1 and 2% O2, while the initial decline and then rise in pH and the accumulation of ethanol did not occur until 30 min after the change in atmosphere. Ethanol accumulation paralleled the increase in pH; first at 0.4 μmol g−1 h−1 from 30 to 60 min as the pH shifted from 5.97 to 6.11, and then at 0.08 μmol g−1 h−1 from 60 to 100 min as the pH stablized around 6.12. The peak at 50 min in CO2 production roughly coincided with the shift from the rapid to the slow change in pH and ethanol accumulation.