Table 1.

Electrolyte leakage, TBARS content, methylglyoxal content, chlorophyll content, net photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO₂ concentration, Rubisco activity, relative growth rate and plant dry mass in the leaf of mustard (Brassica juncea L.) cv. Type 59 at 30 DAS and 60 DAS. Plants were grown with/without nickel stress (200 mg kg⁻¹ soil) and treated with 200 µl l⁻¹ ethephon at 20 DAS

	30 DAS				60 DAS
	Control	Ethephon	Nickel	Ethephon + nickel	Control	Ethephon	Nickel	Ethephon + nickel
Electrolyte leakage (%)	1.98 ± 0.09e	1.20 ± 0.06g	6.90 ± 0.34a	4.12 ± 0.2b	1.24 ± 0.06f	0.81 ± 0.04h	3.59 ± 0.2c	2.82 ± 0.2d
TBARS content (nmol g−1 FW)	17.61 ± 0.8e	12.74 ± 0.6g	41.58 ± 2.0a	26.32 ± 1.3b	13.24 ± 0.6f	8.23 ± 0.4h	24.12 ± 1.2c	21.47 ± 1.0d
Methylglyoxal content (mol g−1 FW)	45.8 ± 1.2e	50 ± 1.7de	74 ± 1.4b	62 ± 1.8c	48.8 ± 1.5e	54.6 ± 1.3d	81 ± 2.0a	71 ± 2.3b
Chlorophyll content (SPAD value)	36.7 ± 1.3c	50.8 ± 1.2b	23.1 ± 1.31e	30.2 ± 1.27d	47.2 ± 1.23b	69.2 ± 1.31a	26.7 ± 1.25de	34.5 ± 1.24c
Net photosynthesis (µmol CO2 m−2 s−1)	17.15 ± 0.8C	22.09 ± 1.1b	11.67 ± 0.5f	14.60 ± 0.7d	21.78 ± 1.0b	30.54 ± 1.5a	13.95 ± 0.6e	16.42 ± 0.8e
Intracellular CO2 concentration (µmol CO2 mol−1)	234 ± 8.1c	296 ± 8.7b	162 ± 7.5e	197 ± 8.3d	287 ± 9.0b	399 ± 8.6a	176 ± 8.8de	226 ± 7.8c
Stomatal conductance (mmol CO2 m−2 s−1)	302 ± 11.2c	372 ± 13.4b	227 ± 8.9e	265 ± 10.4d	364 ± 12.7b	464 ± 14.7a	259 ± 10.5de	293 ± 10.7cd
Rubisco activity (µmol CO2 m−2 s−1)	32.2 ± 1.3c	44.2 ± 2.0b	19.2 ± 1.1e	27.9 ± 1.3cd	42.2 ± 2.0b	62.8 ± 2.4a	23.8 ± 1.4de	30.3 ± 1.24c
Relative growth rate (mg g−1 d−1)	15.42 ± 0.8c	18.93 ± 0.9b	9.57 ± 0.5 h	13.87 ± 0.7e	17.23 ± 0.7b	24.23 ± 1.2a	13.67 ± 0.7e	15.83 ± 0.8c
Plant dry mass (g plant−1)	4.35 ± 0.2d	6.52 ± 0.3b	2.23 ± 0.1i	3.81 ± 0.2g	4.82 ± 0.2c	7.25 ± 0.4a	3.11 ± 0.16e	4.12 ± 0.20e

Data are presented as treatments mean ± SE (n = 4). Data followed by same letter are not significantly different by LSD test at p < 0.05