Effects of Flooding the Root System of Sunflower Plants on the Cytokin in Content in the Xylem Sap

Abstract

The severe chlorosis observed in the lower most of flooded sunflower plants (Helianthus annuus L. cv. Tall Single) may lie initiated by a reduction in the import of cytokinins by the stoot from the flooded root system. Experiment indicates that during 12 hours following the release of flooding, plants previously flooded for 72 hours or less recover their ability to exude sap when the root systems are aerated, and the root systems synthesize and export amino-acids to the shoot. Plants flooded for longer periods lose these abilities. The metabolic activity of the root apices declines parallel with the decline in eytnkinin concentration in the sap with increase in flooding time up to 72 hours. Flooding for 96 hours drastically reduce all four parameters of root activity. After flooding for this period there was a large increase in the number of blackened and tetrazolium-negative root apices which were in all probability dead. The correlation between the metabolic activity of the root apices and the total cytokinin content of the sap supports tbe view that root apices may be sites of cytokinin synthesis.