Table 1.
Treatments | CK | CK + FA | Zn + FA | Cu + FA |
---|---|---|---|---|
Plant height (cm) | 18.3 ± 1.46 a | 15.2 ± 0.28 b | 18.7 ± 2.08 a | 17.5 ± 0.50 ab |
Root length (cm) | 15.5 ± 1.15 a | 14.7 ± 0.60 a | 15.0 ± 1.70 a | 14.3 ± 0.57 a |
SPAD | 48.9 ± 1.30 a | 43.3 ± 0.60 b | 49.6 ± 2.00 a | 49.9 ± 1.90 a |
Plant dry weight (g) | 0.71 ± 0.02 b | 0.62 ± 0.03 c | 0.83 ± 0.02 a | 0.80 ± 0.04 a |
Pn(μmolCO2m−2s−1) | 22.0 ± 0.67 a | 13.8 ± 1.51 c | 17.0 ± 0.16 b | 18.0 ± 0.28 b |
gs(molH2Om−2s−1) | 0.74 ± 0.01 a | 0.12 ± 0.00 c | 0.48 ± 0.01ab | 0.62 ± 0.02 a |
Ci(μmolCO2mol−1) | 357 ± 7.63 a | 258 ± 5.50 c | 328 ± 0.95 b | 365 ± 6.35 a |
E(mmolH2Om−2s−1) | 9.06 ± 0.49 a | 3.08 ± 0.29 b | 9.43 ± 0.02 a | 9.16 ± 0.02 a |
E/gs(10−3) | 7.42 ± 0.79 b | 18.7 ± 1.62 a | 8.42 ± 0.03 b | 7.39 ± 0.11 b |
Wilting index (%) | - | 100 ± 5.77 a | 7.3 ± 0.76 b | 8.63 ± 0.30 b |
Note: Plants of 3-week-old seedlings of cucumber plants were immersed in Hoagland solutions with indicated concentrations of FA (2 µg ml−1) for 3 days. SPAD, the leaf chlorophyll content; Plant Dry weight, the whole plant tissues; Pn, the net photosynthetic rate; gs, the stomatal conductance; Ci, the intercellular CO2 concentration; E, the transpiration rate; E/gs, the ratio of transpiration rate to stomatal conductance. The ratio of the transpiration rate to stomatal conductance (E/gs) was calculated to indicate the water loss outside of the stomata. The data were shown as the mean ± SD of four replicates. Significant differences (p < 0.05) among different treatments are indicated by different letters.