EFFECTS OF GIBBERELLINS ON CHEMICAL-INDUCED FLOWERING OF ASPARAGUS SEEDLINGS

Flowering of asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) normally occurs two to three years after seed germination.
We found that triazines, ureas, dithiolanes, carbamates or thiocarbamates induced flowering, observable one month after when they were applied at the seed-germination stage of asparagus.
None of the phytohormones induced early flowering by itself, and auxins, ABA and ethylene were found to be inhibitory for the flowering.
In this report, we described synergistic effects of the flower inducers and gibberellins (GAs) on asparagus early flowering.
Dithiolane (DT) induced flowering at 15%, however, mixtures of DT and GAs improved the flowering rates by 23 – 41%. Pretreatment of asparagus seeds with GAs for 4 days before the DT treatment enhanced the flowering rates to 33 – 63%. The most effective thiocarbamate (TC) showed the flowering on 75% of the seedlings, however addition of GA3 to TC did not enhance the flowering rate probably due to saturation of the flowering capacity.
Pretreatment with inhibitors of biosysthesis of GA for 4 days before the seed treatment by TC reduced the flowering rate to 14 – 52%.

X International Asparagus Symposium

T. Abe, H. Seto, S. Yoshida

Dithiolane, thiocarbamate, sex expression, GA₃

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2002.589.42