THE EFFECT OF ETHYLENE ON THE RESPIRATION AND CARBOHYDRATE METABOLISM OF POTATOES

Autor: F. E. Huelin, J. Barker
Rok vydání: 1939
Předmět:
Zdroj: New Phytologist. 38:85-104
ISSN: 1469-8137
0028-646X
DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.1939.tb07087.x
Popis: OR many years remarkable responses of plant tissues to low concentrations of ethylene have been reported. The most precise of the earlier reports was that of Neljubow (I90I, I91I), who showed that the etiolated epicotyl of the pea seedling was very sensitive to illuminating gas and demonstrated that ethylene was the effective constituent. He distinguished three definite degrees of response: (a) reduction of growth, (b) deviation of growth from vertical, (c) swelling of epicotyl with horizontal nutation and very slow growth. These degrees of response were also distinguished by Knight & Crocker (I913) who showed that they were produced by O-i, 0-2 and 0o4 volumes of ethylene per million of air respectively. The numerous papers which have been published on this subject report a great variety of effects on different plant tissues. Ethylene has been found to break the rest period of dormant tissues with the result that growth commences earlier (Vacha & Harvey, I927). Denny (I924) showed that ethylene accelerated the yellowing of citrus fruits and increased their respiration. He obtained an effect with i volume of ethylene per million of air, and a maximum effect at a concentration of I: 200,ooo. Since then ethylene has been found to accelerate ripening processes in many other fruits, including tomatoes (Rosa, I925; Work, I928), bananas (Wolfe, I93 I), melons (Rosa, I928), persimmons (Overholser, I927), apples and pears (Allen, I930). Because of the unique effects of ethylene, more precise studies of its influence on various aspects of plant metabolism are needed. The most comprehensive study of the effect of ethylene on the respiration of plant tissues is that of Herklots (I928), who determined the effect of ethylene on the production of carbon dioxide of Sequoia gigantea twigs, cherry-laurel leaf, potato tubers, and ripening fruit. He reported three types of effect: (a) an initial rise followed by a gradual fall towards the control curve, e.g. in potatoes of very low sugar content; (b) an initial rise followed by a fall towards a value parallel to and above the control, e.g. in Sequoia gigantea twigs, very immature fruit; (c) an effect initially the same as (b) but followed by a second hump comparable to the normal respiratory hump of senescent tissues, e.g. ripening fruit, cherry-laurel leaf. Herklots obtained no effect with potatoes that had been sweetened at a low temperature. He regarded these effects as being due to "a decrease in the resistance of the protoplasm to substrate diffusion".
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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