Morphogenesis of floral buds of cucumber cultured in vitro

Abstract

Young floral buds of cucumber plants were cultured aseptically on media containing mineral salts, sugar and various organic metabolites and the development of anthers and pistil in these buds was studied. Three types of buds were used: potentially male, potentially female, and potentially hermaphrodite, removed from seedlings of monoecious, gynoecious and hermaphrodite plants, respectively, but at the time of inoculation all buds were at the bisexual stage. Auxin (3-indoleacetic acid) added to the culture medium promoted ovary development in potentially male buds; gibberellic acid counteracted this IAA effect but seemed to have no constructive effect of its own, whether alone or in combination with IAA. Very young potentially male buds tended to form ovaries even without addition of IAA. Isolated potentially female and potentially hermaphrodite buds continued in isolation their normal development and were little affected by IAA as well as GA 3, although GA 3 at high concentrations seemed to have a deforming effect on the bud (mainly on the ovary tissue). The bearing of these results on the understanding of normal morphogenesis of cucumber flower buds is discussed.