Why can potassium dihydrogen phosphate improve the cold resistance of crops?

Physiological changes of plants under low temperature stress: Under low temperature stress, crops often show soft tissue, green leaves, dehydration symptoms, and even death in severe cases.

It is better to explain the chlorosis of leaves. This is because low temperature affects the formation of chloroplasts and the synthesis rate of chlorophyll, and causes the disintegration of chlorophyll. Usually, young leaves are often the first to be characterized; the symptoms of dehydration are mainly related to water stress caused by low temperature. .

However, these are not enough to be fatal. The destruction of the organelle membrane structure caused by low temperature is the main cause of plant cold damage and death.

In addition, when the temperature is lower than 0 °C, freezing damage will occur, including intercellular freezing and intracellular freezing. Once freezing, it will cause protein denaturation and irreversible mechanical damage. This is another terrible cold stress. place.

Of course, plants will also produce some soluble proteins in the early stage of low temperature stress. They are highly hydrophilic, which can increase the concentration in the cytoplasm, reduce the probability of freezing, and improve the cold resistance of plants.

How does potassium dihydrogen phosphate improve the cold resistance of plants?

We mentioned in the previous article that the damage of cells after freezing comes from two reasons. First, the membrane system is peroxidized; the second is freezing damage. Plants can alleviate these processes after spraying with potassium dihydrogen phosphate, thereby playing a role in cold resistance.

①Improve the antioxidant capacity of plant cells

Spraying potassium dihydrogen phosphate on crops under low temperature stress can increase the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD), improve the antioxidant capacity of plant cells, and reduce damage to the membrane system. Because the intermediate product of membrane lipid peroxidation is malondialdehyde (MDA), the higher the MDA content, the higher the degree of membrane lipid peroxidation and the more serious the membrane injury.

②Increase the content of soluble protein

As we mentioned earlier, soluble protein can increase the bound water content in the cell, improve the water retention capacity of the cell, and at the same time increase the concentration in the cytoplasm to reduce the occurrence of freezing. After treatment with potassium dihydrogen phosphate, the content of soluble protein can be increased.

In addition, potassium dihydrogen phosphate can also promote aging, reduce active oxygen production, increase sugar and phospholipid levels, regulate stomata and inhibit evaporation, etc., to enhance the cold resistance of trees.