Abstract
Year-round production of the florist azalea cv. Gloria is limited by non-uniform flowering in fall-produced, endodormant-budded plants. To examine the effects of the standard dormancy-breaking chilling treatment (six weeks at 3.5 C) on carbohydrate metabolism, single-cutting plants were chilled in low light (10 μmol·m-2s-1) or in continuous dark Treatment effects were studied by destructively harvesting canopy organs for dry weight and carbohydrate analysis at two week intervals during treatment and at five day intervals during greenhouse forcing. Flowering performance was also evaluated. No differences were found between the low light or continuous dark chilling treatments for canopy organ dry weights, days to initial flowering, or days to 50% flowering. Leaf dry weight decreased 22% during chilling, and did not recover to pre-treatment levels through 15 days of forcing. Stem dry weights did not change during treatment or forcing. Floral bud dry weights were maintained during treatment and increased during forcing. Analysis of soluble carbohydrates indicated that the low light treatment influenced carbohydrate metabolism, resulting in Increased concentrations of sucrose, fructose, and glucose in all canopy organs compared to the dark treatment Maltose concentrations were higher in the light for leaves and stems, but not buds. The potential significance of these changes, with respect to dormancy-breaking treatments and uniform flowering performance, will be discussed.
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