Effect of Altitude on Growth and Metabolism of Tobacco Leaves and Flue-cured Tobacco Quality
In order to explore the effects of altitude on tobacco growth and quality,YKS-9 was served as the experimental variety and three altitudes of 1 800,2 000 and 2 200 m were selected to carry the field experiment in Liangshan,Sichuan Province.Agronomic traits,leaf ultrastructure,metabolism and tobacco leaf quality were determined in this study.The results showed that the agronomic traits and tobacco quality under 2 000 m altitude reached the optimum,but got the worst under 2 200 m altitude.As elevation increased,the volume of vacuole was increased,more and smaller mitochondria were produced and the number and volume of starch granules were increased in tobacco leaves.However,the number of chloroplast lamella and stacking degree were decreased in tobacco leaves.In addition,Metabolomics analysis results showed that 102 differential metabolites of tobacco leaves among three altitudes were identified.From the metabonomics analysis,carbohydrates(D-galactonate,D-mannose,D-alose,D-tagose),amino acids(L-aspartate,L-citrulline,L-threonate,D-proline,2,3-dihydroxy-3-methylbutyric acid,alanine),and substances related to shikimate metabolism(L-phenylalanine,shikimate,quinate)contents were increased at first and then decreased with the elevated altitude.Nevertheless,purine metabolites(guanosine,adenine),and metabolites related to phenylpropane metabolism(kaempferol,rutin,chlorogenic acid)were increased sharply with the increase of altitude.Therefore,2 000 m would be the optimum altitude for tobacco growth and quality in Liangshan area,Sichuan Province,followed by 1 800 m and 2 200 m.