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JXB Advance Access originally published online on August 28, 2009
Journal of Experimental Botany 2009 60(15):4275-4285; doi:10.1093/jxb/erp258
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© 2009 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This paper is available online free of all access charges (see http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/open_access.html for further details)

RESEARCH PAPER

Axillary bud outgrowth potential is determined by parent apical bud activity

R. G. Thomas and M. J. M. Hay*

AgResearch Grasslands, Private Bag 11008, Palmerston North, New Zealand

* To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: mike.hay{at}agresearch.co.nz

Axillary buds within a plant shoot system are known to differ in their ability to respond to treatments favouring their development. This ability is referred to as their outgrowth potential. Using two species of prostrate nodally-rooting herbs, dicotyledonous Trifolium repens and monocotyledonous Tradescantia fluminensis, grown throughout in a strictly vegetative state, this study tested two hypotheses. Hypothesis 1: that each axillary bud exhibits an outgrowth potential that is directly related to the growth rate of its parent apical bud, and Hypothesis 2: that the growth rate attained by an axillary bud depends upon both its outgrowth potential and the local supply of stimulatory root-derived signal (NRS) available to it. Activation levels (growth rates) of apical buds were varied by differential exposure to nodal roots and the outgrowth responses of axillary buds recently emerged from them were then measured under standardized conditions of NRS supply. Hypothesis 1 was shown to be correct for both species. Hypothesis 2, tested only in T. repens, was supported by results showing that an axillary bud's outgrowth potential and the NRS supply to it each independently influenced its growth rate, there being no significant interaction between the two. These results emphasize the significant role the physiological state/activity of apical buds has on the outgrowth potential of axillary buds formed within them. The fact that similar relationships were observed on axillary buds on stems of differing developmental maturity and branching hierarchy, and in two taxonomically diverse species, suggests they might be widespread among morphologically similar species.

Key words: Axillary bud outgrowth, branch development, bud activation, bud outgrowth potential, nodal roots, prostrate clonal herbs, root signals, Tradescantia fluminensis, Trifolium repens

Received 3 June 2009; Revised 5 August 2009 Accepted 7 August 2009


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