Effects of Chloramphenicol (CAP) on the maize (Zea mays) seedlings were investigated using some physiological indexes like the pigmentation, proline accumulation and the fast rise chlorophyll a fluorescence. This study shows that chlorophyll synthesis of maize seedling is stimulated by CAP at 50 and 100 mg/L but inhibited by CAP at 250 mg/L. Proline content was slightly altered under stress of 50 and 100 mg/L CAP and increased markedly under stress of 250 mg/L CAP, suggesting that the cell membrane structure is only affected in the presence of high level of CAP. The maximum quantum yield for primary photochemistry (Fv/Fm) and performance index on absorption basis (PI(ABS)) showed the same change pattern as the chlorophyll content in response to CAP treatment, indicating that photosystemII (PSII) function was enhanced by CAP at 50 and 100 mg/L but significantly inhibited at 250 mg/L. However, the decreasing of carotenoid content, enery flux and electron flux through PSII reaction centers (RCs) with increasing CAP concentration shows that CAP at all experimental concentrations exerts adverse effect on pigment synthesis other than chlorophyll photosynthetic physiology that can not be indicated by Fv/Fm or PI(ABS). (C) 2011 Friends Science Publishers

Publication name	INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND BIOLOGY　Volume: 13 　Issue: 5 　Pages: 677-682 　Published: 2011
Author(s)	Zhu, Huaisong; Chen, Xi; Pan, Xiangliang; Zhang, Daoyong
Corresponding author	ZHU Huaisong  huaisongzhu@yahoo.com.cn  Chinese Acad Sci, Xinjiang Inst Ecol & Geog, State Key Lab Desert & Oasis Ecol, Urumqi 830011, Peoples R China
Author(s) from IGCAS	ZHANG Daoyong

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