Chlorophyll determination
Photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a + b) were measured in fresh leaf samples. Leaf samples (0.5 g) were homogenized with acetone (90% v/v), filtered and made up to a final volume of
50 mL. Chlorophyll concentration was calculated from the absorbance of the extract measured by JENWAY Spectropho- tometer 6405 UV/Vis., using the equation proposed (Nazar et al., 2011):