The visible injury and physiological responses of three varieties of hot peppers to ozone

A growth chamber fumigation was conducted to evaluate the ozone (O3) on the physiology of three hot pepper, Capsicum annuum L. cultivars, 'dabotab', 'buchon' and 'pochungchun'. Thirty-day old plants were exposed to O3 of 120 nl 1-1 in the chambers for 8 h d-1 for 3 days. Foliar damage due to O3 was different from the varieties, 'dabotab'was most sensitive to O3, 'pochungchun' was medium, and 'buchon' was resistant. Ozone symptom on the leaves was bifacial necorsis. Photosynthesis and stomatal conductance were decreased due to O3 treatment, but they were not much different from the variety. Decreases of net photosynthesis by O3 were 56％, 40％ and 35％ on 'dabotab', 'buchon' and 'pochungchun', respectively Decreases of stomatal conductance by O3 were 66％, 63％, and 50％ on each varieties. Ozone closed the stomata and decrease net photosynthesis on hot peppers regardless of the variety. Light curves on the three varieties were showing similar patterns that O3 damage on net photosynthesis were started at the low levels of light with or without the visible injury, Assimilation-internal CO2 concentration curves of the three cultivars were not different due to the treatment. It means there was not significant biochemical damage Inside the leaves by O3. In conclusion, ozone closed the stomata and damaged light capturing system of the pepper leaves with or without the visible damage. Although visible damage of the leaves could be a good indicator of O3 resistance, the ecophysiological change by O3 were not proportional to the amout of visible injuries