Abstract:

This studies were carried out to investigate dynamic changes in ultraweak luminescence (UWL) intensity, respiration rate, contents of ATP, soluble sugar and soluble protein of chrysanthemum leaves during floral differentiation. The results showed that the UWL intensity increased 119.3%, respiration rate increased 102.4%, contents of ATP, soluble sugar and soluble protein increased 148.6%, 95.5%, 18.3% respectively at initial stage of floral bud differentiation (II) compared with those of vegetative stage of apical bud (I), and then UWL intensity, respiration rate and contents of ATP reduced slowly respectively at stage of involucre primordial differentiation (III), stage of floret primordial differentiation (IV) and stage of crown form (V). Contents of soluble sugar decreased mostly at stage IV and stage V, and the levels neared to those of controls. Contents of soluble protein maintained higher levels at stage II, stage III, and stage IV, decreased mostly at stage V, but it still increased 14.0% compared with those of controls. But all of UWL intensity, respiration rate, and contents of ATP, soluble sugar and soluble protein maintained stable status in all stages of controls of non-short day treatments. This suggested that the UWL has close relation to respiration and energy metabolism of leaves during differentiation of chrysanthemum.

Key words: chrysanthemum, floral differentiation, ultraweak luminescence, respiration rate, physiological metabolism