FLOWER FORMATION AND TIMING FIELD PRODUCTION OF VEGETABLES

Flower formation and flower development are mainly determined by temperature (vernalization) and photoperiod in vegetable production.
The market supply is influenced by vernalization if the formation of the plant organ considered for harvest is determined by temperature as e.g. cauliflower.
Vernalization causes yield losses due to premature bolting.
Stimulus reception can already begin before seed maturity on the mother plant or after reaching a specific size (age). The duration of the juvenile phase is very cultivar – specific.
There is an optimum curve for the intensity of the vernalization effect within the inductive temperature range if based on the necessary duration of vernalization.
For some vegetable crops devernalization effects must be taken into consideration when vernalization effects are to be quantified.
Simulation of flower formation proves especially complicated if the time of the juvenile phase has to be calculated as well.
Concerning the transition from one phase to another there is a high variance within as well as between cultivars.

VII International Symposium on Timing Field Production of Vegetables

H.J. Wiebe

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1994.371.45