BACKGROUND AND AIMS There is good evidence for deciduous trees that competition for carbohydrates from shoot growth accentuates early fruit abscission and reduces yield but the effect for evergreen trees is not well defined. Here, whole-tree tip-pruning at anthesis is used to examine the effect of post-pruning shoot development on fruit abscission in the evergreen subtropical tree macadamia (Ma...

Genetic modification of shoot and root morphology has potential to improve water and nutrient uptake of wheat crops in rainfed environments. Near-isogenic lines (NILs) varying for a tillering inhibition (tin) gene and representing multiple genetic backgrounds were phenotyped in contrasting, controlled environments for shoot and root growth. Leaf area, shoot and root biomass were similar until t...

It is well demonstrated that the responses of plants to elevated atmospheric CO(2) concentration are species-specific and dependent on environmental conditions. We investigated the responses of a subshrub legume species, Caragana microphylla Lam., to elevated CO(2) and nitrogen (N) addition using open-top chambers in a semiarid temperate grassland in northern China for three years. Measured var...

Bamboo, one of the fastest growing plants, can be a promising model system to understand growth. The study provides an insight into the complex interplay between environmental signaling and cellular machineries governing initiation and persistence of growth in a subtropical bamboo (Dendrocalamus hamiltonii). Phenological and spatio-temporal transcriptome analysis of rhizome and shoot during the...

It is well known that rootstocks can have an effect on the vegetative growth and development of the tree; however, there has been no clear explanation about the physiological mechanism involved in this phenomenon. Evidence indicates that the rootstock effects on tree vegetative growth may be related to hydraulic limitations of the rootstock. The objective of these experiments was to investigate...

Both sorbitol and sucrose are translocated to, and utilized in, sink tissues of apple (Malus domestica). Considering that antisense suppression of aldose 6-phosphate reductase resulted in lower concentrations of sorbitol and higher concentrations of sucrose in source leaves without altering the vegetative growth of apple trees, it was hypothesized that sorbitol metabolism is down-regulated and ...

Whole-plant approaches allow quantification of the temporal overlap between primary and secondary growth. If the amount of time available to grow is short, there may be a high temporal overlap between shoot growth and wood formation. We hypothesise that such overlap depends on the duration of the growing season and relates to wood anatomy. We evaluated wood anatomy, shoot longitudinal and radia...

Flower induction in apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) trees plays an important life cycle role, but young trees produce fewer and inferior quality flower buds. Therefore, shoot bending has become an important cultural practice, significantly promoting the capacity to develop more flower buds during the growing seasons. Additionally, microRNAs (miRNAs) play essential roles in plant growth, flower i...

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of indica rice has been established in only a limited number of cultivars because the regeneration of plants from transformed embryogenic calli is highly cultivar-specific. Establishment of a highly efficient plant regeneration system from shoot apex explants applicable to many cultivars of indica rice will accelerate the application of transformation techn...

The effects of Pratylenchus vulnus on growth and nutrition of Cadaman peach and Ishtara and Julior plum rootstocks were evaluated in a microplot experiment lasting two growing seasons. Cadaman peach was the only rootstock that showed suppressed growth for all growth parameters at the end of the first year. At the end of the second growing season, dry and fresh shoot weights as well as shoot len...