Abstract
Delphinium ‘Blue Bird’ seedlings weregrown in heated (air temperature >15 ) and unheatedglasshouses in winter and treated with foliar sprays of gibberellic acid(GA3) or drenched with uniconazole (UZ). The unheated seedlings wereexposed to temperatures as low as 5 . Under bothheated and unheated growing conditions, leaf differentiation was retarded by theGA3 application. Leaves of the unheated seedlings showed very littleexpansion, but the GA3 application stimulated leaf expansion underchilled conditions. Root starch and mannitol decreased and root sucroseincreased during cold acclimation. These changes were less in theGA3-treated seedlings than in the non-treated seedlings. The higherstarch and mannitol contents in GA3-treated seedlings indicates thatthe GA3 application inhibits starch and mannitol utilization orconversion to sucrose. Chilling hastened flowering but the GA3application did not. GA3 application during the chilling periodincreased spike volume, probably because under chilled conditions, the seedlingsto which GA3 was applied expanded their leaves and were able toassimilate more than the seedlings not receiving GA3. These results suggest that exogenous GA3 apparently breaksthe rosette by means of rapid enlargement of already differentiated tissues andthat the action of exogenous GA3 is, essentially, different from thatof the chilling treatment.
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Ogasawara, N., Hiramasu, T., Ishiyama, K. et al. Effects of gibberellic acid and temperature on growth and root carbohydrates of Delphinium seedlings. Plant Growth Regulation 33, 181–187 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017593815746
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017593815746