Abstract: The changes of chilling resistance and polypeptide pattern during cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. ) seedling development and during chilling acclimation in light (CAL) and chilling acclimation in dark(CAD) have been studied. The results showed that the chilling resistance decreased gradually during seedling development ,CAL could enhance chilling resistance but CAD made the seedlings more sensitive to chilling temperature Two dimension PAGE study showed that during 6--12 days old seedling development some polypeptides disappeared and some appeared . CAL and CAD had different effects on those polypeptides. Both CAL and CAD induced a 58.0 kD polypeptide. There might be cooperation among several genes during chilling acclimation. Chilling endurance obtained from acclimation is based on the integration of metabolism correlated with development.

Key words: Cucumber seedling , Chilling acclimation, Polypeptide pattern